PERMUTATIONS stage one

After four funding attempts, my application to Arts Queensland to make a new work was accepted. The idea of Permutations came from an idea that evolved through making my dance films for my Master of Fine Arts at the VCA where I was investigating alternative story structures in dance film.

Permutation is an immersive dance film installation that positions the audience in the centre of large screens where a multiple point-of-view story unfolds.

The story of Permutations is centered around two sisters aged 16 and 17 who farewell their mother and her newlywed husband on their honeymoon vacation in 1982. However, the short trip soon becomes an extended holiday and the siblings are left to fend for themselves with the help of the neighbour and the local milkman. What unfolds is a story of two young women cast into a grown-up world – a spiral of abandonment, self-discovery, and recklessness at a time when missing person cases run rampant in the sleepy city. Evoking dark undertones, the experience of Permutations takes a multiple point-of-view structure whereby the audience is able to choose their view of the four characters and of the alternative perspectives of the story unfolding.

Permutations features four stunning dancers, Richard Causer, sisters Bella Hood and Lucy Hood and Jacob Watton.

The starting point of Permutations was to have a strong hero image so I returned to work with photographer Mark Greenmantle who shot the hero image for Flaunt in 2014. Mark cleverly put these three images together which is most exemplary of Permutations with different versions of a story that unfolds at once.

Image by Mark Greenmantle
Image by Mark Greenmantle
BTS of the photo shoot

Due to COVID and state border restrictions, rehearsals were set back until November and December. However, we were fortunate to have space to rehearse at Mill Street Studios (RIP).

I tried to be as creative as possible with rehearsals by creating mock-up scenarios similar to the location and surprised the dancers with games such as Twister and Uno to development movement with them. I had also made a gigantic 2.1m x 3.6m twister with my white tarkette and some coloured vinyl.

In December we had rehearsals on location, and we filmed over four days in January. Rehearsals on location were important for embedding the choreography into the location.

The location was a gorgeous late 1970s house that I’d taken a lot of time to find. I had met with the owner for a recce of the house and she was excited to have a dance film shot there. The house had a great vibe and was ideal for the early 1980s era. Some things needed to brought back to the era however, and my Mum had made some fantastic curtains from vintage sheets I had purchased. Tiffany Beckwith-Skinner and the dancers looked after making and installing other fabric and furniture.

In the lead up to filming state borders had opened but that meant COVID 19 was starting to spread in January. We were faced with the predicament that if one of the team became infected they would have to isolate. Sometimes people are not replaceable and this was the case on this project. There was no other time we could get everyone together. Kevin Holloway would have to fly up from Sydney again but he was booked on a long form project following this. There was no guarantee the house would be available again and the dancers were all still catching up on jobs that had been postponed already due to COVID. Consequently, calling ‘It’s a wrap’ on the Permutations shoot was a moment I will never forget. Fortunately, we made it with all the team healthy through the 11 days on location (bump in, rehearsals on set and subsequent 4 day shoot). However, making what was essentially four x 30 minute films was huge and there was some compromises. It would not be until I got to editing that I would know if I had all I needed. Still, what we achieved was massive.

THANKS: I need to say I was absolutely in awe of the four dancers (Richard Causer, Lucy Hood, Bella Hood, Jacob Watton) who went above and beyond to help things all come together, Kirrah Jobst with short scene too, as well as the creative team (Kevin Holloway, Amelia Le-Bherz, Tiffany Beckwith-Skinner and helpers). We also had some amazing help from Jane Hood (and the entire Hood family), Judy Le-Bherz, William Eggleton, and my Mum – all who were so kind to help in various aspects of the production.

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