'The Leftovers' is a blank canvas for people to put whatever they want [on it].
We recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with the team behind Adelaide contemporary dance show, The Leftovers. With a sold-out season at the Adelaide Fringe in 2023, this performance has been curated and developed over the years by South Australian creatives at Motus Collective, including producers Felicity Boyd and Zoe Gay.
Featuring life-sized sculptures by Adelaide artist, Nicholas Hanisch (a renowned artist in his own right; practicing his discipline across the globe from New York, to India and Berlin), The Leftovers combines contemporary dance and contemporary art in a medley of loss, love, and exploration of common experiences that we, as humans, face.
When asked what their favourite thing about being a choreographer or dancer was, both Zoe and Felicity talked of the importance of being able to share their stories with the audience.
Zoe said, “What I love about being a choreographer is the ability to tell your stories...and kind of expose how you think. It also makes it the most daunting part, but it really exposes a lot about your life and the way you see the world and your connections with people.”
Felicity said, “What I love about being a dancer is really being able to share stories with audiences and connect with people. I think the medium of live theatre, live performance, is such a beautiful way of connecting with other people and having that live connection [is really important].”
Felicity laughed and said, "All of it" when asked about the most challenging part of the choreography. “It's so textured and it's so physical and there are so many switches… The most challenging [thing] is really getting control of that switch… switching from pedestrian, to a really muscled thing, or into something very fluid.”
The most interesting part of the choreography has been the melding of different movement languages and different worlds within it. We've played a lot with the pedestrian, meeting the more extreme, and playing a lot with textures…
The show encompasses multiple dance sequences, from duos to groups where each dancer expresses their story differently, but cohesively backed by resonating sound produced by Alix Kuijpers and highlighted with lighting by Kobe Donaldson.
Felicity said that her favourite moment of the show was the seven-minute duo she dances with Isobel Stolinski.
You can see a snippet of their rehearsal here showcasing the four dancers in Motus Collective, Felicity Boyd, Tayla Lee Hoadley, Sophie Hollingworth and Isobel Stolinski:
Audiences are encouraged to interpret the dance and performance in their own way, but if there is one thing that is certain, it is that the chemistry between the dancers, their spatial-awareness, and their powerful-one-minute-and-soft-the-next movements are mesmerising, intense, and epic.
The producers are excited to see their contemporary dance show at Adelaide Festival Centre; Zoe stated, “It's such an honour to be on that stage… and to share it with some of the greats nationally and internationally…”
Felicity added, “It's a complete dream come true… to see Adelaide talent and to bring artists who are born here, have worked here, live here, onto that stage.”
'The Leftovers' runs from the 3–5 Oct '24 at Space Theatre
$30 tickets are available for people under 30yrs.
