During this project the Speckled Egg dancers were working together to find out whether using Trisha Brown's Accumulation (1972) might be a useful framework for rethinking our ideas about dance making.
We experimented with repetition and unison, and how different terrain and weather affects the way we perform the same movements. We made our own group accumulation, Tasky 1-4, based on Brown’s original solo. Each dancer offered their own movements, which we structured using Brown's idea of an accumulation, and we decided to film this in four different places over the 12-month making period. We filmed the first phase of the piece, ‘Face 1’, with film maker Jack Lunt in Dangan Woods (Galway), We filmed ‘Face 2’ in the sea at Silver Strand (Co. Galway), and ‘Face 3’ at Barna Church (Co. Galway). We decidedon Galway City Centre as the location for the final phase, or ‘Face’, of the dance. We made the piece, which the dancers named Tasky 1-4, over 12 months (2017-2018), one site per season, and film maker Jack Lunt worked with us to edit the footage to make this 20-minute film.
The film shows that the piece changed in subtle ways as we performed it over the year, and as the movements settled more deeply into our bodies. As you watch you can see the dancers' unison movements coming apart and then coming back together again as each dancer works to their own pace and ability; an ebb and flow developed over the year.No doubt Tasky 1-4 will continue to change in years to come. We’ve discussed how it might gather new elements. So the dance might be an accumulation in more ways than one...Speckled Egg Dance Company premiered Tasky 1-4 at the Centre for Drama, Theatre andPerformance at NUI Galway on 22nd June 2018.CreditsDance artists: Josephine Connor, Valerie Egan, Damien Faherty, Robbie Gill, Richard Hickey,Charlene Kelly, Emer Macken, David McAnena and James O'Connell.Artistic direction and production: Rachel ParryCamera, editing and sound: Jack LuntAdditional camera: Leah Ring and Irene TannerMany thanks to, Barna Church, Helena Connors, Anne Gill, Aine Hickey, Dr CharlotteMcIvor, Dr Ciara L. Murphy, Dorothy O'Connell and The O'Donoghue Centre for Drama,Theatre and Performance at NUI Galway,
