A Critical Review of Paras Terezakis’s ‘Debris’: How Was Climate Change Shown Through Dance?
A Critical Review of Paras Terezakis’s ‘Debris’: How
Was Climate Change Shown Through Dance?
In September of 2019 I and 100,000 others participated
in a protest for climate change awareness in Vancouver. It was an effort to
call attention the government to intervene in the global cause. This effort was
large in numbers and put certain streets of Vancouver on hold for a day. How
can this type of protest or spreading of awareness be done through art? “Debris”
by Paras Terezakis was a work with this type of goal. The cast and
choreographer of “Debris” showed their progress of the work from March 9th
to the 21st, 2021, through video clips of the dance and an interview
Terezakis at the end. The work is built with five collaborative dancers, Arash
Kapour, Eowynn Enquist, Juan Villegas, Matt Wyllie, Alisha Davidson, and
apprentice Jenna Berlyn. These dancers are all based in the Vancouver area and
have graduated from various programs like Modus Operandi, and the Simon Fraser
University dance program. All five of these dancers are talented and deserved
of credit; however, for the purpose of this paper I will be focusing on the
efforts of Matt Wyllie and Arash Kapour.
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| From Kinesis Dance Somatheatro Webpage In Progress – Debris | Kinesis Dance |
The first solo shown in the streaming, is done by Matt
Wyllie who is walking and running around the room ending up in corners to pause
and then clap. The focus is slightly above eye level, and Wyllie is not looking
directly at where the body is going. Moreover, the head is turning with the
eyes, so it feels like Wyllie is looking for something or trying to find where
to go. Each time a clap is made the head sticks out sideways letting the ear
lead. This action demonstrates listening to the aftereffects of the clap. This
section of the piece with the running and looking to stop and listen to the
clap echo is as I understood to investigate if the walls around would crumble. Additionally,
I felt as if Wyllie was looking for hollow spots, which is done when you are
demolishing a wall for construction. I could see that this idea of debris was
much broader and harder to grasp as there was no specific prop of plastic in
the scene and it was a theatrical showing of what was trying to be accomplished.
However, I was still able to understand this idea of making sure the area was
safe before proceeding and that the debris will not be in the way. This
demonstration was showing how debris is engrained in life and that we must
double check what is safe.
This same dancer then moves into a movement pattern
where weight is transferred from one leg to another by folding at the knee and
letting the foot make a scooping action and the wrists are folding mimicking
the action of the knee. This progresses into half turns instead of only
transferring the weight. This movement continues to build, and he transitions
back into the running and clapping at a faster pace
From the "Vancouver Presents" Website Debris - Vancouver Presents
which brings him in and out
of the camera. Now center stage to the dramatic “Star Wars” theme he pulls out
an object from his pockets and begins to unfold it to reveal two grocery store
type plastic bags. He proceeds to wrap the straps around his knees and begins
to emulate the same folding of the wrists and knees travelling movement he did
earlier. Furthermore, allowing the plastic bags to make the connection between
the joints like puppet strings. In my opinion, this connection back to the same
movement while adding the variable of plastic bags shows the connection to
debris being embedded into everyday life. For example, I like to go get coffee and
even though I am going to a coffee shop for the coffee I am left with a cup to
throw out afterwards. I think using these two sequences and adding a layer of
connection as to how the movement was created at the end showed how people
unknowingly allow debris to affect human pattern. In everyday life I find
myself looking for a way to dispose my own debris when I am not home.
Especially in this pandemic with take-out being one of the safest options, even
though the goal is a meal, there is a pile of leftover containers and bags to
hold the containers. This section of movement shows this constant connection
that is present between debris and everyday activities. Additionally, using a
dramatic theme music that when shown in “Star Wars” to reveal the villain
character gives audience the same connection to the plastic bags being
revealed. Therefore, showing the villainization of the plastic.
The next section of the piece that I found made consistent
interconnection with ideas of debris
was the second male soloist, Arash Kapour.
Kapour comes on stage holding something that is not obvious to the chest and is
moving by hitting the body first with the free hand and letting that guide the
movement. Arash Kapour hits an arm, for example, the arms leads and the rest of
the body echoes. Throughout there is a lot of falling, hitting, and tumbling
which becomes chaotic. This chaos contrasts how Kapour entered the stage in a
trance like state, staring off into the distance and taking up a lot of time. Explosive
movement being big, fast in tempo, and uninterrupted in direction. The opposite
of this explosive movement I would describe as collected which contrasts these
ideas and is so minimal in movement it is not obvious to the viewer. There is a
clear play with this type of contrast, going from explosive to collected, which
emphasizes other ideas of debris that can be more catastrophic. An example of a
more catastrophic idea of debris would be tearing down buildings due to the
making of newer models. Additionally, how he builds himself back up can be
compared to how a lot of people view when a tree is taken down it can be
replanted. The use of chaos and collectiveness also shows the chaos that debris
causes but seems to be so minor from an individual perspective. In my opinion,
the use of calmness showed how individuals view their own ecological footprint
and not the entirety of the problem.
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| From Kinesis Dance Somatheatro Webpage In Progress – Debris | Kinesis Dance |
These two sections in connection with the prop both
dancers hold shine on the topic at hand and demonstrate it best. Terezakis’s
previous explorations on the human condition through ‘Kinesis Dance
Somatheatro’ made way for the dancers to truly embody the effects of debris. The
connections that are made to the plastic bags in these two solos through
choreography successfully showed the human connection to debris and the
importance we put on single used plastics. The movement choices themselves have
proven important throughout the work in the running sequence and the plastic
bag being used as puppet strings in Wyllie’s solo, and in Kapour’s solo the way
the plastic bag is used and the continued chaos and ease of the movement. Terezakis
and his dancers have taken on a global issue and have decided to spread
awareness through dance, and in my opinion, they are doing it successfully.
Works Cited
“PRODUCTIONS.” Kinesis Dance,
kinesisdance.org/.
“Kinesis Dance Somatheatro.” The
Dance Centre, 17 Mar. 2021,
thedancecentre.ca/event/kinesis-dance-somatheatro-2/.
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