Naree Vachananda was born in Bangkok . She graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1997 with a Bachelor of Dance. Since then she has expanded her experiences in movement to Butoh and Ideokinesis.
Opposite My House is a Funeral Parlour by Naree Vachananda
Season: 9th June - 12th June.
At: fortyfivedownstairs,
45 Flinders Lane Melbourne.
Bookings: 03 9662 996
The incident that inspired Opposite My House is a Funeral Parlour is one of the most significant turning points in modern history, September 11, 2001. Eddie Perfect named one of his songs “Don’t Be So Damned September 10”. Back then I lived at 67 Moor Street, Fitzroy - the funeral parlour street. Indeed I was shaken to the core by that incident. My sister, who works in downtown NY, just got out of the subway when she saw people flocking around in the street. When she got up to her office with windows facing south, she saw the twin towers collapsing right in front of her eyes. When I spoke to her on the phone, she joked, “It’s just like you looking at the funeral parlour.” … you get the picture.
I started a diary observing the funeral parlour - the result was not so much an emotional journey as a visual diary written in words. At this period I came across a marvellous book in the State Library called Persephone by Jenny Joseph (Bloodaxe, 1986). After a few visits, very much inspired by Joseph’s text, I decided to work on a new dance piece about mortality.
The idea of mortality is not only philosophical but also cultural. As a Buddhist trying to collect my thoughts about mortality, I looked at various streams of Buddhism to find out. I once researched on the internet about Buddhist ideas of death. As I kept clicking on the links in the site, to my surprise, one link led me to quantum physics. Later, I found the Buddhist idea of cyclic flow of life and death was parallel to the myth of Persephone. I chose the two ideas as the structural theme of the work.
I have been collaborating with sound composer Edward Kelly to develop the three-part initial studies of the work in 2003 – 04. In March 2004 we developed the third part through Dancehouse’s Space Grant program. I invited Yeap Heng Shen to work on the visual (multimedia) component of the work. We hope all the components: sound, text, visual, installation and movement, will take you through the visual and audio diary we created about the funeral parlour and about a journey of a sentient being, through the never-ending flow of existence.