Dancer making a name
ENTERTAINER: For Ardon England (former WHS student), Whanganui's home, but Auckland is where his future is.
PHOTO courtesy of Paul Brooks.
Dancer Ardon England is where he wants to be, and while Whanganui is home and is still dear to his heart, his future as a dancer, choreographer and entertainer lies elsewhere.
"Moving to Auckland was the best thing to happen to me. I got accepted into Okareka Dance Company Summer School, a two-week intensive dance training programme in January this year. Then Taane Mete, one of the founders of Okareka, asked if I wanted to be part of the cabaret show running as part of Pride Festival."
Taane wanted to do a duet with Ardon.
"He's one of New Zealand's top male dancers," says Ardon. "We did this cabaret show over six nights and from that I was approached by Tempo's artistic director, Carrie Rae Cunningham. She asked if I was to be part of Fresh, what would my show be?" Ardon's proposed idea was accepted.
"Five choreographers each year get to create their own work as a part of Fresh, a dance programme that runs as part of Tempo Dance Festival, giving emerging choreographers a platform," Ardon says,
The choreographers have to create the show, find dancers and put the vision together, complete with costumes and music. "My concept was portraying someone struggling with what society says they should be, going through that hard time, then realising that being themselves is more important. When you find yourself comfortable with who you are you can achieve anything."
Ardon says his dance is autobiographical.
"It's a reflection of my journey in Auckland. Whanganui has been great and I love it, but since I moved to Auckland and really stepped into myself and had that confidence of 'I'm going to do it', things started happening."
Ardon called his dance Fierce.
He says it's a statement to those who would not believe in him, but it's also an alter-ego reserved for performance.
"My biggest inspiration was Beyonce and her alter-ego was Sasha Fierce, so that's where my concept came from."
Ardon used pieces of eight Beyonce songs to tell his story.
"It's starts off quite dark with a song called Pretty Hurts, then goes into Haunted where things are getting on top of you ... then into Flawless, which is about accepting your flaws ... that's the tipping moment in the show and it starts getting faster and builds into this hard-core, intense choreography. The reception I got was amazing and everyone said the concept was really strong."
Ardon uses the story-telling techniques of contemporary dance coupled with the movement and looseness of hip-hop. "It tells a story but infuses different dance styles. I've had conversations with two choreographers who were at the show and want to help me develop it."
The dances were performed in front of a live audience for two nights, with the first night incorporating a forum where the public could ask questions of the choreographers.
Ardon performed with the help of four female dancers. "I wanted to represent that piece - it was me and everything I worked at up until then. It was showtime and I wanted to be a part of it."
Fierce was seven months of hard work and the first time Ardon had created his own show. "It taught me how to deal with stress."
For example, he had to audition dancers for his show. "I found four girls. Within the first week two girls pulled out." Then APRA (music licensing) had issues with some of the songs he had chosen so he had to make last minute changes to the music and the choreography. A month before the show one of his remaining dancers was injured and had to pull out.
"I had no choice but to carry on and find other dancers." The dance went ahead with four girls and Ardon.
As well as the Tempo exposure, Ardon's dance with Taane is evolving. "We recently did it at Sky City as part of the Gaba Awards alongside Annie Crummer, the Topp Twins and a few other performers."
Ardon has just left his part-time job to focus on dance full-time.
"I want to concentrate on pushing myself into the entertainment industry. If this is what I've done in my first year of being in Auckland, imagine what there is to come."
By Paul Brooks
Wanganui Midweek