Kyle Page's visionary dance fusion

By Honey B

Japanese Butoh and Australian contemporary dance meet at the OzAsia Festival in Kyle Page's premiere dance piece, Spectra. The talented artistic director of Dancenorth loves to collaborate with our Japanese neighbours - he previously collaborated with Japanese company Batik in 2006. "Spectra is a fusion of ideas and I see myself as a director but really as more of a facilitator in gathering all of these wonderful people to make this amazing and unique work,'' Page says. "It's definitely more than just being a director. "I love to create a moment in time and it's more about the guiding process - all of the dancers are absolutely incredible. It's an incredible collaboration.'' Page's work, Spectra, is a little piece of collaborative dance magic. "Working with people of a different culture brings about some wonderful discoveries. "Butoh came about after World War II and as I understand it, it was a way of releasing or purging those experiences - the intensity of war. "It was a way of examining and investigating, exploring and coping with all of this atrocity, so the style can be very charged. But for me we don't go into a really intense or dark place. "We don't go into that fully loaded space with this piece in a traditional sense, but we do delve into some deep states.'' Page says the performers and audience are engaged in something that is "more compelling''. "The dancers and the audience go to this special place and we draw the audience in on this journey. "I like the idea of creating something that is quite immersive for the audience and also the performers - it's a dialogue between the two. "When you add in the intimate area of the Space Theatre and the audience and dancers sharing that proximity and using that to our advantage to create something more direct and compelling.'' The visionary dance piece also features a live musician on-stage and an amazing set design by renowned installation artist Tatsuo Miyajima. "Tatsuo is famous all over the world and I originally saw a work of his in a really beautiful gallery in Tokyo. My wife and I took photos of our bodies in front of this piece and we thought it was something worth exploring. "I got in contact with Tatsuo through the gallery and he was a bit apprehensive at first but he just loved the work and the idea of it and he came on-board. "His harmony and energy that he has brought to the staging is just wonderful and quite spectacular - you have to see it.'' Page says having a live musician on-stage creates this beautiful live fluidity. "We have this mesmerising score and the live Japanese musician and he plays acoustic guitar and then he loops the sounds. "He creates everything on-stage and the music is completely alive. "Everything simply comes together in this big melting pot - dance, music, installation, media - it's mind- blowing.'' Spectra, Adelaide Festival Centre, Space Theatre, 29 September to 1 October. Bookings: BASS 131 246