© ATOM 2011 A STUDY GUIDE BY MARGUERITE O’HARA http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN-13-978-1-74295-111-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au 2 1: TANJA LIEDTKE SELFPORTRAIT 2: SILOUHETTE FALLING 3: TANJA BATHROOM DANCE 4: TANJA IN MIRROR BYJULIANCROTTI 5: TWELFTH FLOOR SET CRY LIKE BIRDS CHALK BYJULIANCROTTI 3 1 LIFE IN MOVEMENT Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost. – Pina Bausch 5 Introduction The sudden death in 4 2007 of dancer and choreographer Tanja at twenty-nine. It is a portrait of an immense sense of loss felt by those Liedtke brings life into artist and a celebration of a life and of closest to her. sharp focus. A film contemporary dance, an art form to which Tanja Liedtke made such an im- For all these reasons, the film would about moving creatively portant contribution. It is also a story be a valuable resource for middle, through life and loss, about grief and loss. senior and tertiary students of all the Life in Movement is a Performing Arts, not just Dance, for portrait of an obsessive The footage, descriptions and discus- the insights it offers into a number of artist at work and the sions of contemporary dance in this themes that are central to any crea- film will be especially interesting to tive process leading to performance. impact her life and death students of performing arts such as These include: has on her collaborators. Dance, Drama and Music; however o The creative process (generating, this is essentially a film about the realising and responding) Curriculum Guidelines creative processes of an artist, about o The collaborative nature of perfor- the intensity of focus and passionate mance SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2011 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION While Life in Movement is a film about dedication needed to bring new and o The role of a choreographer or a dancer and choreographer, it is challenging works to an audience. artistic director essentially an intimate and complex It is also a biographical portrait of a o The ways in which both confidence portrait of a young woman who had life in movement, a film that honours and doubt can be major well- already achieved a great deal as a and celebrates the work and life of springs of creativity. creative artist before her sudden death Tanja Liedtke, while also exploring the 2 2 1 3 4 1: COMPOSER DJTR!P 2: DIRECTOR/CO-PRODUCER BRYAN MASON (BY MATT BATE) 3: EXECUTIVE PRODUCER SUSAN MACKINNON (BY SUSAN MACKINNON) 4: PRODUCER/ CO-DIRECTOR SOPHIE HYDE (BY BRYAN MASON) 5: FILMMAKERS BRYAN MASON AND SOPHIE HYDE (BY BRYAN MASON) LIFE IN MOVEMENT IS A CLOSER PRODUCTION. It runs for 79 minutes. Part B is an introduction to contempo- There is also a 56-minute version. rary dance. It is about understanding 5 Director and Bryan Mason and exploring contemporary dance co-producer and choreography, particularly in the It would also be an excellent resource context of Tanja Liedtke’s contribution for Media, Film Studies and English Co-director and Sophie Hyde to this art. producer students as it offers a fine example of an approach to telling the story of a Writers Bryan Mason and Whether teachers select activities from person’s life and work – constructing a Sophie Hyde Part A or Part B first will depend on biography which is at the same time a their students’ level of knowledge and Executive Susan McKinnon tribute and memorial to that person. producers and Solon Ulbrich awareness of contemporary dance. Students who are studying Dance may The film includes footage of Tanja Cinematographer Bryan Mason be quite familiar with much of the ma- growing up, performing, developing Editor Bryan Mason terial in Part B, but for other students, and choreographing productions, as reading through the information in Part well as interviews with family, friends Composer Dj Tr!P B before watching Life in Movement and colleagues about her ongoing may be useful. influence on their lives and dance practices and how they responded to with her and were prepared to talk PART A the news of her unexpected death. It candidly about how her life and death MATERIAL AND ACTIVITIES offers a model of how to construct a affected them. portrait of a life by employing a range About Life in Movement of approaches and visuals. There are two sections in this guide. Part A is about the documentary – The Filmmakers SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2011 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION The film’s co-directors, Bryan Mason what it shows us about Tanja Liedtke’s and Sophie Hyde, were friends of life and work and the impact her life Life in Movement won the 2011 Foxtel Tanja Liedtke and this friendship gave and death had on those around her. Australian Documentary Prize at the them not only access to a range of Students are also encouraged to look Sydney Film Festival as well as Best film footage of Tanja but also access at how the filmmakers construct the Feature in the 2011 South Austral- to friends and colleagues who worked narrative. ian Screen Awards. It won an ATOM 3 award for Best Arts Documentary. It has screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Sydney International Film Festival, Sheffield Documentary Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, at Montreal and at the Adelaide Film Festival. It has been nominated for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award (AACTA) for Best Feature documentary and was also nominated for an ATOM Award for Best Biogra- phy (Documentary). Who appears in this documentary? Apart from Tanja Liedtke, many of the people featured in the film are fel- low dancers, colleagues and family members. They include: Solon Ulbrich, Kristina Chan, Paul White, Julian Crotti, Anton, Amelia McQueen, Theo Clinkard, Craig Bary, Joshua Tyler, PAUL WHITE Garry Stewart and Lloyd Newson. Sol Ulbrich is a performer, choreog- as Meryl Tankard, Lloyd Newson (DV8 rapher, teacher and arts manager and Physical Theatre) and Garry Stewart long-term artistic associate of Tanja (Australian Dance Theatre). Paul won Liedtke. He was also her partner for the 2008 and 2011 Helpmann Award eight years. He appears in the film and for the Best Male Dancer in a Dance or also worked on the film as an execu- Theatre Production, the 2010 Aus- tive producer. SOL ULBRICH tralian Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and has Kristina Chan. For the past eleven twice won the Australian Dance Award years she has performed throughout for the Most Outstanding Performance Australia, Canada, the UK and the by a Male Dancer (2008, 2010). USA and has danced with a number of contemporary dance companies Julian Crotti’s work centres on a including Australian Dance Theatre, range of performing arts. As a per- Chunky Move, Tasdance and many former: Superheroes (Stone/Castro independent projects. She has been 2010), Black Marrow (Chunky Move awarded two Australian Dance Awards 2009), Tanja Liedtke’s Twelfth Floor for ‘Outstanding Performance by a (2006/2010), Jet of Blood (Ignite 2006). Female Dancer’ for her work in both As an artist his original concepts drive KRISTINA CHAN of Tanja Liedtke’s full-length works: theatrical works that seek to com- in 2006 for Twelfth Floor and 2008 municate our current condition in a for construct. Kristina also received common language (Tom the Loneliest the 2011 Helpmann award for Best [No Strings Attached 2009], I’m Still Female dancer for her performance in Here, Parts I-V [Country Arts SA 2010], Narelle Benjamin’s In Glass. Put the Light on Me or The Trickle Down Economy [Lisbon 2010]). He has SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2011 © ATOM SCREEN EDUCATION Paul White is one of Australia’s most worked as a writer, filmmaker, teacher highly regarded dance artists. His and photographer and has been career as a performer and artistic col- an associate artist with No Strings laborator has included working with Attached Theatre of Disability since some of the art form’s most renowned 2004. choreographers and directors such JULIAN CROTTI 4 Amelia McQueen graduated from Adelaide College of the Arts with a TANJA LIEDTKE A brief biography Bachelor of Dance Performance in 2000. Amelia has been an ensemble German born Tanja Liedtke began her member for diverse companies such dance and theatre studies in Madrid, as Tanz Atelier Wien (Vienna), Tas- then continued her training at the dance (Launceston), Stalker Theatre Elmhurst Ballet School and Ballet Company (Sydney) and Strange Fruit Rambert School in the UK. In 1996, (Melbourne). Under the direction of she took up residence in Sydney, Tanja Liedtke she developed a role for Australia and in 1998 joined the Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) under the dance theatre production Twelfth AMELIA MCQUEEN Floor that she performed in Australia, the directorship of Garry Stewart. the United Kingdom and Germany Tanja danced with ADT for four years, 2006-2009. As a teacher and mentor touring across Australia, Asia, UK she has worked as assistant director and North America. In 2003, she on the ‘Soft Landing’ project for ter- joined Lloyd Newson’s DV8 Physical tiary dance graduates through the QL2 Theatre for the award-winning Centre for Youth Dance (Canberra) Channel Four film and European annually since 2007, and in 2010 she tour of The Cost of Living and the was the artistic director of the Smoke- 2005 creation and international free Youth Dance Festival (1,200 tour of Just for Show. In between performers). Amelia has presented her performing, Tanja also pursued her own choreography in theatres and art development as a choreographer and galleries in Adelaide, Melbourne and ANTON was commissioned to create works in Amsterdam and she is currently under- Australia, South America, Europe and taking a solo performance residency for U.K.