Bukowski Gets Rocked - The Chinaski Sessions

David Hughes Dance has been a leader in the new wave of companies coming through in Scotland, gaining recognition beyond the traditional audiences and causing controversy through their collaborations with physical theatre maestro Al Seed. The emphasis on communicating ideas or stories, and the drive of artistic director Hughes have made their annual tours of new work hotly-anticipated events. It’s no surprise that they eventually got around to sneaking a peek at masculinity, pulling together a cast of seven men, including Belgian post-rockers I Love Sarah and using the writing of acclaimed misogynist and poet Charles Bukowski as an inspiration.

The surprise is that Hughes has commissioned a female choreographer to help the boys blow off steam. Kylie Walters already has a reputation as a “blonde banshee ball breaker” (her quote), and she approached The Chinaski Sessions with few illusions about Bukowski’s attitudes.

“I'd read Women by Bukowski and was blown away by the way in which he draws you into his shambolic, alcohol-fuelled and yet highly creative world,” she explains. “You are admirative, disgusted and fascinated in turns.”

But rather than using the stories that Bukowski tells of his thinly disguised alterego Chinaski, Walters evokes the atmosphere of an all male environment: “The piece is inspired more by the atmosphere of Chinaski's flat rather than the poetry or stories of Bukowski per se. I've taken the Chinaski reference merely as a springboard to explore masculine behaviour in a rock context.”

For associate director and dancer Matt Foster, the piece reflects the company ethos. “The artistic vision is to challenge and redefine the boundaries of dance and physical theatre. Every work we produce must in some way challenge notions of context, what technique really means and certainly to challenge convention,” he says. David Hughes adds: “This time an audience can expect a full on evening of in-your-face, relentless testosterone, you get to the end and go ‘what was that!’”

The presence of a live band not only connects The Chinaski Sessions to the rich European choreographic tradition that loves to get the musicians on stage and involved, but marks how the dying ritual of the rock gig is being replaced by more imaginative ways of performing. Like A Band Called Quinn in their recent Biding Time (Remix) show, I Love Sarah are integral to the performance action, and not just a discreet musical bonus.

Walters explains. “I am a fan of I Love Sarah – their music, their presence, their humour. I have pretty much based the piece on the band, so they were in the mix right from the beginning.” Some delicate negotiations followed – “I reassured them I would not make them dance!” – Walters dropped the duo into the mix. “Apart from shaping the music for the piece and also integrating the presence of five other guys banging on their cymbals and destroying their cables, the band have quite a lot of text and stage activities to perform. This is pretty new for them.”

The alliance between dance and rock has become steadily more potent and imaginative in the past twenty years: from Michael Clark’s groundbreaking use of The Fall in Curious Orange to Iona Kewney’s ‘duets’ with Take A Worm For A Walk Week frontman Joe Quimby, choreography has invigorated rock’s intelligence while capitalising on its raw energy. “I think this really pulls the show out of the realm of your standard rock gig or dance piece with live music,” Walters continues.

Foster is even more enthusiastic. “It doesn’t fall into the conventional realm of dance: this work was created to ‘stomp on the stale ground of contemporary dance’. What you will see is seven guys putting their guts and soul into eighty minutes of rock-fueled madness.”

By concentrating more on the themes of Bukowski’s work, Walters has developed a show that gives space to very masculine behaviour. But this is no eulogy for a lost identity. “What interests me here is that all this male energy is used and channeled to create something – rock,” Walters says. “The band, their mates and hangers on are all male, there are no women in the room. This theatrical foundation provides the stamping ground for a range of male, and sometimes 'cock rock' behaviour.”

It almost becomes an examination of the relationship between group behaviour and the creative process, says Walters. “Something about the chemistry of hanging out and playing together spurs on a creative act. It's almost a ritualistic playing out of masculinity in order to access that creative territory. How do men function and create in a group situation? Does a certain setting affect the style of what comes out in the end? This fascinates me.”

The Chinaski Sessions may echo many of the trends in modern dance – delightfully, David Hughes Dance has never defined itself as ‘contemporary dance,’ perhaps recognising the phrase as meaningless, and attempting to avoid the connotations of self-conscious posturing, such as the intimate involvement of musicians and the preoccupation with masculinity; but they are a unique proposition. The dancers are always chosen from diverse backgrounds – at least three of the company are known for their own choreography – and are as likely to have roots in hip-hop as ballet.

What does define the company is the complete engagement with whatever approach they have taken: previously, it was physical theatre with Al Seed, now, Hughes notes, it is back to “pure dance.” Hughes’ own restless energy – he is still performing, on occasion, Hurricane, an exhausting dance made for him by Christopher Bruce, another choreographic revolutionary – translates into the company’s ferocious attack. Never afraid of pushing boundaries, or courting controversy, their repertoire hints at the potential for dance to leap clear of its ghetto and take its rightful place as the most dynamic artistic medium in Scotland.

Refusing to play safe, never getting lost in the abstract beauties of technical perfection but applying technique to the visceral communication of concepts, David Hughes Dance are staking a claim to be regarded as the most important performance troupe north of the border. That isn’t to disrespect other theatre makers – the competition is fierce – but The Chinaski Sessions promises the same immediacy and shock as their 2011 Traverse Fringe production, only this time from a different perspective.