FORM Dance Projects and Riverside Theatres will present DUTI Dance Company Mathew Mizyed’s None Of Us at the Lennox Theatre from Thursday 9th May to Saturday 11th May.
Choreographed by Mathew Mizyed with original music by ARIA award-nominated music producer, composer, and award-winning songwriter Tony Buchen, None Of Us questions the concept of ownership, identity, and connection to place - featuring some of Sydney’s leading versatile dance artists, including Rachell Dade, Andi Huynh and Chantelle Landayan.
The choreography is a blend of soft and strong, fluid and fixed, constant and still and is fostered organically through Mathew’s patient creative process.
Explaining the origin of this work, DUTI’s Artistic Director and choreographer of None of Us, Mathew Mizyed said
“My father was born in Jaffa, Palestine in 1942. I visited Jaffa and the Wadi Rum desert in 2017. This visit to my father’s homeland made me feel connected to who I am. Wadi Rum confronted me in a physical and spiritual way. The expansiveness of this desert land made me question who had walked here before. There were people here before us and ‘None of Us’ were the first. This inspired the name, movement and concept of this work.”
None of Us. Photo credit Laurence Thanadon Creevey
Mathew Mizyed kindly answered the following questions for Dance Australia.
What is DUTI Dance Company and how long has it been operating for?
DUTI Dance Company is an independent performance company that started in 2010. Our main objective is to create works and produce shows that reflect who we are. All our works are a reflection of things that we experience and live.
What type/styles of dance are featured?
DUTI = Dancing Under The Influence. Artistic director Mathew grew up as a self-taught dancer. He was never attached or trained in a specific style for a long period of time. For this reason, he feels he is under the influence and motivated by various styles that he grew up watching on tv or by the music he was surrounded with. The company has a connection to many styles via the dancers in the company that we like to pull from. Ultimately, we want to make creative works that may have a different flare, approach and point of view from our last works. This is always dependant on the context of the work, too. We’ve explored works in contemporary, commercial and experimental styles of dance and movement.
How did you choose the cast of three dancers?
I find there is a strength in having 3 main dancers. Although in theory it might seem like a small cast on a stage, the relationship between 3 people came across strongly to me, and for this work that is something it needed. The number 3 also has many significant meanings to None Of Us, one of them being the number of time- past, present and future…
Anything else you want to share about this work?
We’re excited to finally present None Of Us – This has been an idea I had since 2017 and I am excited to have had the opportunity to explore and develop None Of Us, thanks to FORM. As creatives we put everything we have into our work, sharing an insight to who we are is scary but all so exciting for us. It is the reason why we do it. I am not much of an expressive person, however, my work is always a small window into my thoughts or what I am/have gone through as a person and creative. I can’t wait to share all of this with everyone.
Bookings: Available from the Box Office (02) 8839 3399 or https://riversideparramatta.com.au/whats-on/none-of-us/