IN|FORM | Green Grapes and Unicorns

Nerida Matthaei and dancers

Green Grapes and Unicorns – GPS tracking for contemporary dance Tetris

Contributed by Nerida Matthaei, Phluxus2 Dance Collective

Between February and April 2019 Phluxus2 Dance Collective toured the contemporary dance installation piece ‘angel-monster’ to Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. This is a reflection by Artistic Director and ‘angel-monster’ choreographer Nerida Matthaei on touring independent work.

After three weeks of a final development, our team of 7 squished into a Hyundai iMax and headed down the M1. Here is a brief GPS tracking of our fun, intense and enriching adventure;

Maps and Unleaded E10 - It will take you time to plan, make connections, generate partners, secure funding and build a tour independently. Don’t rush it. Currently, funding for out of state touring is very hard to come by, so this will need to be self-reliant and self-funded. Ouch – yes… but make it worth it. Figure out how to ‘guesstimate’ budgets realistically - you will be in the red but if you knew it was coming and it even comes in slightly under the red (but still red – so let’s say a deep orange) your planning has worked. Have an excellent, detailed and accurate schedule. Be realistic but dream big…

Fuel Tank – Avocadoes, rice cakes, green grapes, coffee and ‘guys Oliver’s is awesome!’ Always take your time researching accommodation. You can often get your price range and it be nice – just take the time to delve into the web (I’ve spent enough years staying in questionable accom – no longer she says). I often ask for a discount and rarely don’t get it - be nice. People love nice. Don’t bother getting accom near the beach. Let’s be real – you will be in the theatre 24/7 and you won’t even see it! (Thank you UNSW and March Dance - bump in, perform and bump out in less than 48hrs! #goteam)

3 venues, 15 supporting organisations, 9 workshops, 3 accommodations, 2 funding partners, 5 performances… thank you Tetris

Road Blocks - Things will go wrong, be calm and find a creative solution - flooding venues, social media bans (thank you facebook - not) and scratching the van (get the extra vehicle insurance, ouch). Remember your tour van is probably huge, so when you get stuck in the side alley of a local dance studio (thank you Catapult Dance!) - stay calm, you’re only a 372 point turns away from getting out plus you have a whole team to direct you and move the pot plants out of the way!

Take the Scenic Route - connect with community, take time to deliver workshops, catch up with old and new industry friends, infiltrate the local community and ask for help with promo. Take the time to meet your audiences, provide some catering after so you can chat and meet people (a bowl of fries and some pinot goes a long way). Touring is an opportunity to make contact with industry friends who you haven’t seen for a long time. Networks and community are everything.

Cruise Control - conserve energy and take turns driving, cooking, teaching... it was epic to say the least. Work out together, watch RuPaul together, cook for each other, lend your amazing snuggle head (Jill), have sing-a-longs (Bohemian Rhapsody was a Newcastle highlight), take turns at making hilarious insta stories, work hard and celebrate hard (well kinda), always thank each other because everyone is there mostly for the love.

2413 km, 27.5 driving hours, 5 dancers, 1 choreographer, 1 production coordinator, 7 bags, 1 giant fan, 7 hanging ova, 11 sand bags, 6 yoga mats and hundreds of pieces of second hand clothing in 1 van… thank you Tetris.

Wildlife - Producers are like unicorns, they are hard to obtain as an indie but OMG they make the world beautiful (thank you Sandi Woo)! Your team is important, you all need to believe in each other and in the work, because the energy required is more than a pay check (thank you Hsin-Ju Ely, Essie Horn, Lauren Graham, Lauren Sherlock, Chiu-Ju Wang and Teegan Kranenburg). If you can, have your Mum at box office. Why? Because she is your biggest fan! Who doesn’t need that kind of support when you’re about to vomit from nerves!? It helps to have grounding.

Attractions - Collaboration with local organisations to help generate new audiences and bolster your work with local backing. This is ultimately why you are on the road. Do your research, have conversations. It’s important to find the right venue and the right partners for the work. Be committed to on-going relationships, everyone will be taking some kind of risk and longevity is key (thank you UNSW Studio One, March Dance, QL2, Ausdance ACT, Supercell Festival of Contemporary Dance, Brisbane Powerhouse and Ausdance QLD). Of course, touring is a goal for a creator. Sharing your work with different communities is important to providing longevity to the art and building/sustaining relationships across the country. In the earlier days of Phluxus we would tour work outside of Brisbane around once a year – in recent years, due to funding scarcity and cuts to venue programming, we have not toured our last two works. The preparation for this tour took around one year of administration and around 3 years of saving to build a base budget.

Sudoku - Give yourself something to do during the show. My nerves are way worse when I’ve made a work and then have to just watch it happen rather than be in it too – nothing to do now… so rather than being a ball of nerves and standing with tense blank face in the corner (or hiding out the back with a whiskey), go pull a rope or 7.

Drop a Pin - Reflect on what can be learnt for next time. The workshop delivery was tiring amongst our schedule, but it was enriching to share our practice and important for generating an audience and future connections. Audiences outside of Brisbane were not completely prepared for an installation experience, be ready to work on the fly to prepare and learn from different audiences. People are awesome – we felt a lot of support from audiences which made it all worth it. Fill up your tool bag with new learnings for next time. Now let’s plan a 2020 remount.

Thank you to the creative team, all supporting organisations and funding bodies who made this tour a possibility. Creative Team – Nerida Matthaei, Sandi Woo, Hsin-Ju Ely, Essie Horn, Lauren Graham, Lauren Sherlock, Chiu-Ju Wang, Teegan Kranenburg, Keith Clark, Andrew Milz and Rozina Suliman. Supporting Organisations – Mad Dance House, Harbour Performing Arts Centre, Catapult Dance, UNSW, March Dance, Ausdance NSW, BOLD Festival, QL2, Ausdance ACT, Canberra Dance Theatre, Dance Development Centre, Canberra College, Merici College, Supercell Festival of Contemporary Dance and Brisbane Powerhouse. Funding Bodies – Arts Queensland and Ausdance Qld. Thank you to Andrew Meadows, Andrew Milz and The Good Room for lending us equipment