Aiming to Achieve Absurd Beauty

July 15, 2024

An Interview with Lyndel Quick

Lyndel Quick is a community dance artist, teacher, director, and theatre-maker based in Newton, Victoria, Australia. She is the director of Blink Dance Theatre, a project-based company that creates devised collaborative performance, ensemble theatre, and site-specific work. Here, Lyndel shares how Blink Dance Theatre is a vehicle for her creative practice, from live dance theatre performances, community workshops, text-based works, and dance films.

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Can you share a little about your dance history? What influenced or shaped you as a performer?

I loved reading as a kid, including old plays I would find at the op shop. My teenage years were spent acting and performing with a local theatre company who were producing experimental and progressive productions in a somewhat small town. I learnt a lot about theatrical risk and about developing audiences. After high school I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just knew that I loved making up dances. So, I decided to move to the big city and audition for a full-time dance course, completing an Associate Diploma in Dance Teaching and Management. I literally talked my way in, as I had no ballet or dance experience prior and got rejected the first time. The following year, I auditioned again, and they asked me what I was going to do if I didn’t get in, again? I said I’d just keep turning up until they let me in, so they did. The course was established by pioneering Australian ballet dancer and educator, Laurel Martyn OBE, who I was fortunate to learn ballet from.

Starting formal dance training late, I followed this up with another four years at Deakin University, Rusden, studying contemporary dance, theatre and education. I loved the freedom and cross disciplinary approach to making art that was encouraged at university and enjoyed performing in various productions and independent projects, before landing in the education sector. Returning to my hometown, I taught senior dance and drama for 15 years. At the same time, I set up my own adult dance studio, The Loft, and started delivering classes to the community, as well as co-founding a youth dance company for four years, which became a wonderful testing ground for new ideas and choreographic play.

About seven years ago now, I finally got to see a work by Pina Bausch. It was revelatory. I laughed, I cried, I was delirious with joy. Finally, here was a performance that made sense to me and closely aligned with the absurd beauty I hope to achieve in my own works.

What was the original impetus behind Blink Dance Theatre?

A dance friend of mine approached me and asked if I would run some informal professional level classes at my studio. We invited a few people along and I facilitated a series of classes and workshops on contemporary technique and task-based improvisation. Since then, I have been fortunate to work with a diverse group of multidisciplinary artists on various projects and have had wonderful community support. For longevity, I think it has been extremely helpful to have my own studio; a challenge for most artists is access to affordable studio space. I created Blink as a vehicle for my creative practice and continue to explore this, from live dance theatre performance, community workshops, text-based works and dance films.

Are there one or two pieces from your repertoire that you’d like to share more about?

Assembly Room was a 20-minute work for 11 women, performed at night in an alleyway, framed by unique heritage buildings superimposed with large scale projections which reflected the city’s industrial, textile and manufacturing history. The dancers’ costumes were a nod to the 19^th century when ‘good women’ weren’t out on the street, and included a hooped skirt that was lit up and looked really effective. The work was part of a larger festival called Geelong After Dark and was well received by audiences. I really enjoyed creating this piece, reclaiming our right to be out at night dancing in the streets, responding to the space and letting it inform the work, honoring the history of my hometown, as well as developing the music and choreography.

In 2019, I began development on a new full-length work, Memory House, which explored the physicality of memory, the body as home, and the Jungian archetype of the house as a metaphor for self. We completed the first development with the cast. However, the next stage required a drastic re-think due to COVID. I made the decision to scale things back significantly and make an eight-minute dance film instead, created with Glass Kingdom Films and presenting partner Geelong Arts Centre. The film was highly successful and we had two local screenings. It was also selected for screening at numerous international film festivals including the European Short Film Festival (Germany), Inshadow Lisbon Screendance Festival (Portugal), Wilddogs International Screendance Festival (Canada), San Souci Festival of Dance Cinema (USA), Inspired Dance Festival (Australia) and Dumbo Film Festival (New York.) It was wonderful to work closely with film director Annika Glac again, who directed me in a dance theatre production when I was a young dance graduate. Also working with composer Josh Mitchell to create the score was a highlight.

How would you generally describe your choreographic process?

I usually start with an idea, text, or piece of music that has me cornered and won’t let go. Something wants to be made, and it’s my job to figure out what and how. I often begin with reading and research, collecting other elements related to the main idea such as images, poetry, patterns, texture, objects, colours etc., things that will help give the idea a moving form. Then I head to the studio to create some movement phrases. If I’m working site specifically, then the history of that space will greatly inform the process. I tend to favor episodic form as a structuring device and works are often made like a series of overlapping images, weaving dance with gesture, story, text, image, and sound. I often set tasks for the performers to explore; they are a key part of the collaborative process, as is the input of the wider creative team. Towards the very end of a process, I will add transitions and order the work.

You have a history in theater. How does your background in acting influence your approach to dance, and vice versa, how does your experience in dance influence your understanding of what theater can be?

I’ve been interested in performance in public spaces for a while now and have created work in empty warehouses, galleries, and parks. I like to learn about the background of each space, including the architecture and how that affects the power balance between audience and performers and notions of intimacy within that space. That said, I also love the quiet tension that sits on a traditional empty stage too. My background in theatre has given me an appreciation for storytelling, an understanding of dramaturgy and language, how to balance a stage and a feel for inherent rhythm and pace. I also love working with ‘untrained bodies’ alongside trained movers too, helping to disrupt preconceived ideas about who has the right to dance.

What’s next? Do you have an upcoming project or focus you’d like to share more about? 

I’ve had 18 months off following serious illness, so right now I’m enjoying the simplicity and sheer joy of being able to move my body again, to be a student and attend classes. I guess you could say that I’m filling back up my cup. I’m also currently exploring a new work called Body Ecology, which follows environmental themes found in my previous works. Spending time in nature has been a big part of my healing journey and I want to explore this further. I recently completed a wonderful course on Embodied Mythology, ritual, and devotional practices, and many of these themes are weaving their way into my creative practice in a beautifully rich and expansive way. Most of my work to this point has been about directing, choreographing, and making work for other performers. I’m excited to start doing more performing myself.

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To learn more, visit blinkdancetheatre.com.au.