Dressed To…Dance

What self-respecting man hasn't honestly thought about slipping into a well cut little black dress? I know I have; and so has Martin del Amo.

Indeed, so enamoured of the LBD is del Amo that he has created The Little Black Dress Suite, a four part dance work that features the fashion classic in costume mode for three women and one man. From the elegant to the sporty, del Amo's LBD's draw together a quartet of disparate works to create a new, couture based context for audiences, performers and del Amo himself to re-imagine his own work and celebrate one of the Western world's true style icons.

However, what makes this 'suite' truly remarkable is that the four pieces are all drawn from previously created works. As del Amo explains it, “At some stage I realised that I had used this item as a costume in all these different contexts with different aims and meanings and I thought, 'what if we bring all these pieces together in some sort of suite?”

Returning to the works under the umbrella of the 'Suite, choreographer Martin del Amo was faced with the prospect of scrutinising his own unique style. “It was really almost surprising to me to notice how I tend to prefer certain choreographic phrases,” he says. “I could really see my style, even though each of these pieces is quite distinct from the others. Doing this suite is like a mini retrospective for me.”

Joining del Amo in costume are three of Sydney's most respected contemporary dancers, Kristina Chan, Miranda Wheen and the much loved veteran Sue Healey, for whom this show represents only her second performance in fifteen years. Each will perform a solo, the only connection being the dresses and del Amo's choreographic preferences.

“The artistic challenge for me under the banner of the little black dress was how to create diversity,” del Amo declares. “It's much more of a question now than it was at the time I made the works originally. Now, by bringing them together I have to think, 'what makes each piece and what makes each piece different?”

The other obvious issue for del Amo is how to transcend the 'gimmick' of the man in a dress. “I don't think you can pretend that the audience won't think about gender,” he says. “Y'know, when you come out in a dress you know they are going to gasp and maybe laugh. My challenge then is to make them forget about that and concentrate on the character and the meaning of the piece.”

In addition to being an ersatz celebration of the LBD, the 'Suite is also a nod to the great film choreographer Bob Fosse. Martin del Amo's longtime collaborator, sound artist Gail Preist, has created a tribute piece and the iconography of the dress itself recalls Fosse's classic evocations of feminine power, grace and allure. “Even though our choreographic styles couldn't really be more different, I was influenced by the way that Bob Fosse used the black dress and the idea of the beautiful young woman in his routines.”

With four dresses, four dancers, a Mozart aria and some high heels, The Little Black Dress Suite promises to collide couture and contemporary dance in ways that will make you picture yourself in a figure hugging outfit. Above the knee hopefully.

WHAT: The Little Black Dress Suite
WHEN & WHERE: Thursday 15 to Saturday 17 August, Riverside in Parramatta NSW