Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Double Goer

Tell us about your show and what audiences can expect?

This show is about the life cycle of two women/twins/Doppelgängers who compete with each other for your attention over 50-kickass-minutes of dancing. Audiences can expect to see about 400,000 dance moves, and two performers that try to outwit and win against each other through actions of competition, humour, vocalisation and choreographic snazzy-ness.

Can you talk about some of the creative team involved?

The creative team for Double Goer is small because we really wanted to tour this work internationally. I'm working with my best friends. I've known Tamsyn since I was a young dancer, and I've known Rose for over 10 years. I've chosen to work with them because we know each other incredibly well and they're also phenomenal dancers and collaborators. The music's written by my husband, who's also a set designer and dramaturg, and runs an amazing new catering business called Rough Kitchen. And we have Foster Group Creative Producer Madison Cronin making it happen and looking after us all behind the scenes. We've made this work over several years. Funded generously by Creative New Zealand. It's been a labour of love and has had many lives. Because of Covid, we will premiere in Edinburgh.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work, both in terms of creation and performance?

I love to go to art galleries, exhibits, other shows, travel, and I create my own visual art that informs the themes of the works I like to make. I truly believe that the artwork doesn’t exist in a bubble, but is deeply interconnected with my experiences as a person, and through the collaborations I instigate with friends.

Looking at this production, how would you say it links to previous work personally and thematically?

All the work I make is deeply connected to my personal experiences, my relationships and the collaborators I choose to engage with. Creatively, the process here has involved the same rigour and detail that I undertake with most works I make – getting into the studio, researching, making movement material in response to provocations, talking about what we'd made, having a few laughs, having team drinks, getting back to the studio, making some movement, talking about what we could cut, etc.

What do you find special about this work and why do you think there’s an appetite for it?

For Tamsyn, Rose and I, there’s some really deep roots embedded in the choreography the audience will see. We've worked incredibly closely together creating this, and I think that comes across in the intricacies of the material. So it’s special to us on a personal level. In terms of there being an appetite for it – yes, absolutely. People want to see themselves reflected in art, they want to feel represented, and understood, and be taken on a journey for however long a work lasts. I don’t think there will ever not be an appetite for that, for art, or for dance. It is a natural response to the world we currently live in.

Why is this an important story to tell?

Double Goer is a return to the body and physical relationships, and centres on looking at ways women interact and can be together – friends, sisters, enemies, all complexities of life. It is important to tell human stories in a time that links us to so much digital media.

What would you like audiences to take away from Double Goer?

I hope that the audience leaves the show with a sense of optimism, a new view on what the world could be like, and takes an opportunity to reflect on their relationships with the important women in their lives.

How do you feel about the current arts landscape in your country and your part in it? Does it excite you and inspire you to keep pushing the boat out?

Foster Group has been very lucky to be generously supported by Creative New Zealand, our governing funding body here in Aotearoa. After Covid the arts landscape has changed a lot, and CNZ is responding to these changes. I think sometimes change can be challenging and New Zealand is seeking to embrace a much more inclusive and diverse representation of artistic practices.

Why are arts festivals such as the Fringe so important for international exchange?

To meet your international peers and collectively share work is some of the most important professional development an artist can do. To take work from New Zealand and share it on the international stage can allow us to more deeply reflect on lived experience and what it may have to offer. We take the opportunity to represent some of New Zealand’s best dance very seriously, as an honour.

What can the wider arts community do to get more people involved in their specific disciplines?

Invest more in personal relationships with the people in the community because they make a huge difference to someone's sense of value. Do not take yourself so seriously. Making art serious, but tremendous fun. Bring light and shade to the practice, Be our authentic selves.

Have you got your eye on any other shows that are part of the programme?

We will be seeing as many shows as possible, prioritising first of all our dance allies performing in the festival, and the other New Zealand performers that are bringing their works over. We want to see New Zealand thrive on the international stage, and we want to support the development of fantastic dance work being created internationally. Shout out to our friends performing their work Hysterical – Carrie Rudzinski and Olivia Hall! 

What’s next for you and how are you feeling about the future in general?

I feel great about the future. After the Festival I’m going to Finland, Norway, Sweden and London to meet with University partners. Then I’m going to New York to choreograph a work on dancers from the New York City Ballet at the choreographic institute. Then I’m off to China, Singapore, and Hawaii to meet with more university partners, with which deeply informs the work that I make.

How can Edinburgh audiences keep up with you beyond the festival?

Social media! Especially our instagram: @fostergroupdanceart