Conversation.3/ On spiralling
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In this episode On spiralling, JN Harrington was interested in a conversation with other artist-practitioners about space and navigation as they relate to thinking and ways of knowing. Harrington’s choreographic work has developed through scores and structures which were based first on axes, then grids, circles and spirals. In all of these structures there was a positioning of the audience or visitor as a co-agent in relation to the dance or performance that would unfold.
Her artistic journey has paralleled her understanding of her neurodivergence, and is in some ways a space to explore that. As she has developed ideas about cognition and dramaturgy in her work, she has also been interested in how other makers understand their processes of handling information, social contexts and the kinds of framing they find for their work in communities of knowledge gathering…and what different disciplines or ways of naming fields of study can offer to each other.
The spiral is the underlying imprint of the Satelliser project, with the sense that there is always a way to enter, to offer, to gather, to move away and return. For On Spiralling Janine invited Nicole Zizzi – speaking from Boston USA- and Charles Koroneho – speaking from Auckland New Zealand– to join her to think together with, and inevitably through spiralling.
Nicole’s research is grounded in her physics and architecture backgrounds and experience of neurodiversity. Charles’ work explores the collision between Maori cosmology, New Zealand society and global cultures through performance, workshop and collaboration. In our spiralling conversation we touch on architecture, cities, maps, being a visitor, language, land, observation, orientation, colonisation, neurodiversity, negotiation, wave-particle duality and more.
Image: Stéphane Audet. Te Toki Haruru - the resounding adze
Charles Koroneho (he/him)
Charles Koroneho works in the fields of performance and culture. He created Te Toki Haruru (est 1997) to explore cultural collaboration and the intersection between dance, theatre, visual arts and design. His projects are presented as performances, research workshops and arts collaborations exploring the collision between Maori cosmology, New Zealand society and global cultures.
Koroneho is a founding member of Te Kanikani o Te Rangatahi, a graduate of the New Zealand School of Dance and Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. He has performed extensively in New Zealand and abroad with Te Toki Haruru, MAU, Royal New Zealand Ballet Company and worked in collaboration with Min Tanaka, Guillermo Gomez-Pena and La Pocha Nostra.
Koroneho shares his vision of dance and performance by providing movement, improvisation classes and creative workshops for dancers, actors and performance artists. He supports the arts community as a choreographer, collaborative director, cultural consultant and mentor.
Charles Koroneho was awarded The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Arts Laureate for Dance, 2014. He was appointed Adjunct Professor 2017-18, HOD Contemporary Dance Program 2020, Unitec Institute of Technology.
Image: Deanna Filsinger
Nicole Zizzi (she/her)
Nicole was born and raised in Buffalo, New York where she started dancing at the age of 2 at Eugenia’s Dance Studio. She trained in ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, lyrical, and Polish Heritage dancing. At the age of 18, Nicole started school at the University of Rochester where she studied Physics and Dance. At Rochester, she trained in contemporary with mentor Missy Pfohl Smith—artistic director of BIODANCE and director of Program of Dance and Movement at the University of Rochester. After graduating college, Nicole moved to the Boston area where she quickly found herself immersed in the rich and vibrant Boston dance community. In October 2015 Nicole and her dance partner, Lisa Giancola, founded their own company; Evolve Dynamicz. Nicole teaches various workshops and classes in the Boston area for both adults and primary school-aged children. Her pedagogical approach focuses on building confidence and agency in movers through tools such as strength training and improvisation technique. Her most recent project with Evolve Dynamicz explores how dance can be used as an educational tool when learning abstract mathematical concepts at the collegiate level. Nicole has just finished her Master's of Architecture at Northeastern University where she will be continuing her research with the Center for Design investigating how dance may be used as a tool for creating data curiosity and literacy.
Image: Christa Holka
J N Harrington (she/her)
J N Harrington is an artist whose work includes writing, dance & choreography, drawing, video, installation, costume and space design. She works mainly in gallery and non-stage spaces where her work prioritises explorations around access, play, agency, confrontation by times/scales beyond the human, neuroqueer experiences of information processing: mishearing, equational-images, listening, ways of tethering attention in movement... Her recent works include Screensaver Series (2018), storage for future sunsets (2021, Scottish Dance Theatre & V&A Dundee), good luck dinosaur (2020) , believe/ been video essay (2020), UNFRIENDING (2021), never closer to midnight (2019) and leading the Satelliser project.
Harrington’s educational background is in visual arts, psychology and dance. As a performer she has worked within museum and gallery contexts across Europe. She is a board member of Chisenhale Dance Space in London and was involved with Engagement Arts Belgium 2017/18. She works to support other artists with access through grant-writing, and mentors around neurodiversity in dance.