Dance Focus: Keep Everything

Answered by: Lauren Langlois (performer)

Tell us about your background in dance? I started dancing when I was five years old at the Shirley Halliday dance school in Perth. Went on to learn ballet, tap, jazz and theatrical at a school called Dance Arts. I spent some time away from dance when I was about 16... and went on to study a communications degree at Curtin University. I did a major in Performance Studies and dreamed of being an actor, but somehow I felt that my life experience was fairly limited and the call to dance again became quite strong. So I started doing private ballet lessons with Adrienne Eastoe, and she encouraged me to study at the Marie Walton-Mahon Dance Academy in Newcastle. After studying full-time classical ballet in Newcastle, I went on to study Contemporary Dance at the New Zealand School of Dance. I was there for an intense two years before being offered a contract by Garry Stewart, the artistic director of Australian Dance Theatre. I performed in some of ADT’s major works from 2008–2010 and then left Adelaide to work with Sydney Dance Company in 2011. I joined Chunky Move in 2012 to collaborate with Antony Hamilton on Keep Everything and have since been working with Anouk van Dijk (artistic director of Chunky Move) and other independent choreographers in Melbourne.

What is it like revisiting keep everything? It’s like being away on school break and then coming back to school to hang out with your best buddies again. All the old jokes are still there and surprisingly, most of the choreography was all there too. I thought it would be a lot harder to remount the piece after two years away, but the body remembers most things! I had the best time during the creation of Keep Everything; so much play and individual flair and creative freedom went into this work from each of us as performers, so revisiting the work is enjoyable. And hard! This piece is extremely difficult to perform and you need to be on top of your game each and every night.

What is your dream song to dance to? In my dreams I see myself dancing to a Celine Dion track sung by Eminem and Elton John is my dance partner.

How does The Presets’ role in the production amplify the performance? Their music is incredible and really helps shape the journey of the work. In the last 15 minutes of the piece when I’m feeling fatigued and we have to crank out some intense dance moves, the beat motivates me to keep on going. It kind of builds and keeps building until your energy feels so lifted you feel as if you can keep dancing all night. A lot of my friends who have seen the show said that at the end they just want to get up and dance like they’re in a club!

Keep Everything runs from 20 – 24 Aug, Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall.