Productions
Each project we create starts with an idea that we dive into and explore, then we come up with concepts and creative pathways to make this idea come to life. That's when we start to create the music, where we use our vocals and surrounding soundscapes as well as instruments and any sound that resonates with us and encapsulates what we want to portray. Then we edit and master the track into a full length musical score. This is when we get into a studio/any space big enough to create and work on choreography and movement until we eventually lock down the piece. After that, it's rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
We often create pieces for schools/studios/solos performances where we use music other then our own, unless a company wants us to create our own musical score. It is up to the director or performer to say which direction they would like to go in.
The three productions below feature Manacan's original music.
ROOTED
“Underground there is this other world, a world of infinite biological pathways that connect trees and allow them to communicate and allow the forest to behave as a single organism.” – Susan Simard
Rooted explores the constant support that trees provide for humans no matter what their gender, religion, culture or race. Humans cannot live without trees though they can live centuries without us.
Perhaps, if we listen to them closely enough, we may learn something about the true meaning of life.
Photo by Oscar O'Ryan
SENTIENT BEING
In Buddhism, sentient beings are those with consciousness – sentience. Sentient beings are composed of the five aggregates, or skandhas: matter, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness.
We are fascinated in how animals connect and relate, the relationships different spieces build among themselves – some mate for life, some are ruthless in their mating habits. There is something almost magical about how they interact,
communicate and live among each other.
Having had the privilege of spending time in their world, watching them in the flesh in their natural habitat inspired us to create Sentient Being.
We heard so many sounds and atmospheres deep in the African bush that inspired such awe in us that we recorded what we could. Then, when we created our soundtrack we integrated some of those primeval sounds.
We have not chosen one creature as an inspiration but rather we have taken attributes from many. We wish to present on stage what we feel is so incredible about nature and animals in their natural habitat – and about the immediacy of life in the wild, which is about making sure you do whatever you need to do today in order to make it to tomorrow. Embodying the true meaning of being present.
Photo by Oscar O'Ryan
PETRICHOR
Noun - A pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.
The dancers use their bodies and movement to embody the emotions experienced before, during and after the rain – illustrating how we cannot live without it and why the rains should always be celebrated.
SURVIVE
‘We are constantly told to do what you need to do to
survive but is it enough to just survive?! Does that mean the moment we pass on from this world is the only moment we truly feel peace? It’s time for us, to change the narrative, the fire that burns deep within each of us is enough, we are enough. Now is the time to change the narrative from survive to thrive.’
In loving memory of Kirvan Fortuin - 1991 - 2020,
"You need to do what you need to do to survive, don't ever say that 'because there are other things happening in the world that your story is insignificant', because it's not"
