This week Verity Mackey will perform a new solo dance work called Lacuna at Interlude Gallery in Sydney. I have composed the score for this performance – an extended electronic piece that is dominantly concerned with sound design and the conjuring of environments (as opposed to my past music for dance, which is made up of more direct, songlike pieces, as featured on the Paint en Pointe album). That said, it isn’t purely soundscape – there are a few heavily percussive passages that draw on techno and club music influences, and the navigation of these styles remains an important part of my creative goals as a composer.

Due to the interactive nature of the performance and the size of the gallery space, the available audience spots were quite limited (and registrations have now been fully booked for both nights). However, the performance will be filmed and a full-length video will be posted online early next year. At that stage I will delve into the score as well as our collaborative development of the participatory concept in detail. Lacuna is the result of 6 months of discussion, work and rehearsal with Verity and I look forward to sharing the video when it is ready.

I have included the artist statement and Verity’s bio below.

Lacuna

Pronunciation: /ləˈkjuːnə/

1. An unfilled space; a gap:

2. A cavity or depression, especially in bone.

“Your footsteps make my sky fall.”

Lacuna is a new dance collaboration between performer Verity Mackey and composer Eugene Ward

You are invited to a glimpse of something – to peek into something private and intimate that will be shaped by the seeing of it. You are welcomed to a gap you will light and fill, a space you will dominate as you give and take detail – treading on nature as voyeur and navigator.

 

Verity Mackey is a multidisciplinary artist with a background in dance, costume and social work. Her practice aims to create sensorial spaces and opportunities for audiences to participate in examining the human form, to acknowledge our shared experiences, differences, and greatest desires and fears. In 2013 Verity undertook Shopfront Theatre’s Civic Life residency with Nicola Frew to establish the performance duo N&V. N&V have performed at various exhibitions including MCA staff’s group show Contemporary’s Contemporaries (2014) and Canberra’s You Are Here Festival (2014). Over the last three years she has been training in Bodyweather with Victoria Hunt. Lacuna is her first solo performance.