I have asked members of Drift to comment on their experience and memories and have collected these paragraphs in honour of our time together in Drift. I was driven to do this, because as the title may indicate, I was worried it would easily drift from all our conscious(s) as we have no photos or video to secure its existence.I have asked members of Drift to comment on their experience and memories and have collected these paragraphs in honour of our time together in Drift. I was driven to do this, because as the title may indicate, I was worried it would easily drift from all our conscious(s) as we have no photos or video to secure its existence.I decided to collate a BIGish summary of a WEEish show, of dance sketches and live music that drifted in and out of Auckland and some surrounding communities in Nov/Dec last year.

Drifts Cast = Guy dodgy darling dog Ryan,
Maria eccentric experimental egghead Dabrowska, Malia shameless shoe shaker Johnston, Kathryn classic cleavage clad Van Beek,
Nigel furiously fast fingers Braddock.

We Drifted to:
Grey Lynn Library hall - Sat 23 Nov 02
Morra Hall Oneroa, Waiheke - Sat 30 Nov 02
Palm Beach Hall, Waiheke - Sun 1 Dec 02
Bethels Surf Club - Fri 6 Dec 02
Riverhead Citizens' Hall - Sun 8 Dec 02
Thames Unitary Church Hall - Fri 13 Dec 02
Coromandel RSA Hall - Sat 14 Dec 02
Alleluya Cafe - Thu 19 Dec 02

I have asked members of 'drift' to comment on their experience and memories and have collected these paragraphs in honour of our time together in 'Drift'. I was driven to do this, because as the title may indicate, I was worried it would easily drift from all our conscious(s) as we have no photos or video to secure its existence.

Malia
I am interested in writing about it because, for each of us, the show was an experience that we hadn't had before. A weird little experiment in some respect. As I reflect on Drift and look at the motivation for it in the first place (speaking for myself) it seemed to be a slight rebellion against the pressure of producing a 'show' show.

In a funny way it was experimenting with:
a) how short a rehearsal period you can have and
b) how little publicity you can create to be able to pull off a viable performance.

Well it turned out that the recipe included:
5 x days dance rehearsals
2 x days looking for costumes
add 3 x cheap lights and a kind of dress rehearsal
mix in a little tension between the performers
add a dash of nerve and a loss of inhibition
source some pavement chalk for some 'same day' publicity and finally slice in some eternal optimism from the positively positive
Nigel Braddock and there you have the show. Eeeeeek but fun.

We were experimenting with the idea of ideas and playing with them and making them into very short pieces, as they are, and as they come out. It was quite a nice time. We didn't stop to ask any questions we just did and supported each other along they way with much laughter. I think we took being not serious very serious.

The main thing that I felt about the work was that it was well received - not only by the small communities who had never had something like that come to town - but also by the dudes from the faithful and supportive dance community that could make it during that busy time of the year.
That was a nice surprise to us. We didn't know how it would be received and were humbly impressed with all of the audiences - be it that in some places we had only 6 people.

We got to watch the show as it went along enjoying each other's pieces before we performed. It was a show of the moment - a drifting thing that happened. I recommend the experience for anyone out there keen to give it a go. Coromandel would love to have stuff come there more regularly.

Anyway my drifting memories and highlights for me included:
1) being hit in the face by a flying egg by Maria at the Waiheke show - ("I am soooosure it was a set up Maria but you can blame the moment of the performance if you like (hehehe)")
2) performing the shoulder duet with Maria outside on the deck of Bethels surf club against the sunset but with about five mosquitos biting
at the edge of my knickers and not being able to do a thing.
3) praying that no one would turn up to the Thames performance so that we could go to the pub instead but actually having a fabulous
experience of performing to 6 unlikely audience members .....
4) running out of tape that was used to mark out our performance spaces and having to invent.
5) dancing to live music and listening to Kathryn sing each night.
6) watching Kathryn's outfit evolve and grow - or should I say shrink as we went along
7) having a fabulous excuse to visit fantastic spots round Auckland each weekend
8) hunting for halls in small towns
9) dancing with people who I hang out with a lot (a very cool xmas present really)

No money made, no jobs secured and no prospering future career opportunities at all came from this experience but the riches we found were in the experience of it and it was priceless. This show was about using what we had where we went and I just can't describe how I feel about it all retrospectively other than it did prompt me to write something down even if its just a few drifting memories.

THOUGHTS FROM KATHRYN VANBEEK
Aside from a few low-key gigs, I haven't performed since high school.

DRIFT was a great opportunity to get back into performing. I've trained as a scriptwriter, so I've become accustomed to being behind the scenes. DRIFT helped raise my confidence as a performer - my band, Peachy Keen, has had several gigs subsequent to the DRIFT tour, and I've even written myself into my latest play (as a singer)! It was also great to be working on something that wasn't script based fora
change!

I really enjoyed working with the dancers - I admire dancers a lot, as of all the art forms I can think of, dance is the thing I'd be least capable
of doing! Malia, Maria, and Guy are also dancers whose work I respect a lot. The dancers performed to pre-recorded music, some live piano music by Nigel, and one song, Painted Lips. Though the Painted Lips dance was the most humorous of all the dances, for me it was very successful in that it integrated all the performers simultaneously - and it was also really fun!
The cabaret approach was great - I was a performer one minute, and an audience member the next. The more I saw the dances, the more layers they took on for me.

I also really enjoyed the touring aspect of DRIFT - I've lived in Auckland for three years but have been geographically limited by my finances and my 49cc scooter! I'd never been to Waiheke Island before, and I'd only been to the Coramandel once, so it was quite an educational tour for me!

We had some great experiences, some great audiences, and met some great people - and the final product was something that I was very proud of. DRIFT has been one of the most satisfying artistic experiences of my career.

FROM GUY RYAN
er... Drift (aka Stray cat) ... never in the history of humankind has there been a more appropriately titled show... drifting right from the start in so many ways.. even before the start, Maria and I drifted through the process of writing the proposal, which in the end made it possible...

Immersed in Fracture, I guess I was never fully committed to the idea - After Fracture I didn't want to take anything seriously and I guess that
led to the flippancy I felt about and through Drift - at times I almost felt like an anti-producer... the show went against so much of the
conventional rules about putting on a show... but that's what was so cool about it as well... belated apologies to you guys who were more
committed... So I'm a cynic, but in spite of my feelings about it and all the other crazy shit going on in all of our lives, I loved the doing of it,
even just to 6 people... Why? Well for a start it was a privilege to perform alongside such a bunch oftalented, nutty, intelligent, bohemian
fuckers... It was a pleasure to shift in and out of my own performance and the appreciation of you guys.. to get a sense that in spite of my lack of
commitment, we had in such a short time created something that people found to be beautiful, funny, moving and intimate, i.e. almost all of the people that saw it seemed to love it, and you can't say that about just any old show... I loved dancing to your music - such a pleasure Nigel and Kathryn (and all your little avocado's...) Big ups to Nigel for your gear and your unshakeable optimism... all the workouts loading and unloading.. exquisite dancing to the sounz created by your dancing fingers... Kathryn - a pleasure listening to your heavenly voice and wondering what outfit such a fabulous retro diva was gonna come up with next... best shoe award -red
boots from Thames opp shop - wicked... Big Ups to MAZ and Malia for putting up with me and for one of my favourite images of 2002... the texture of your dancing backs in the light on the deck, suspended against the darkness of the hills behind, the sky, the stream, the still night air.. Fucken YUM... Maz, thanks for not firing me for being late... You and your eggs and your big cheesy grin... and to lovely Malia, thankyou for surviving another mad ride with the GSTAR and all his Cancerian traits... was such a pleasure to dance, just you and me, in the confines of our sweet little square with our beautiful friends lighting us up and playing us usic...mmmmmmmm Lots luv to you and all you guys...

shall we do it again perhaps, just twice more? C U all at ARO Valley hall at around 4pm on the 28 Feb for a cuppa tea, some lollies, a bit of a set
up, maybe some avocado and crackers and afterwards, a couple of organic beers, maybe a bottlawine....aiiieeee.... Drift II - the return of...

G-STAR xxxx

Here's some stuff about the tour FROM Maria Dabrowska

Drift was definitely that - five of us would stagger in to some small town feeling pretty doubtful about getting any audience, and wondering wether it was worth the effort of stretching our limbs and musicality in the name of
live performance - however every time some one from some where would turn up - we'd start our little show and realise there was nothing we'd rather be doing, than this performance at this time, it felt likethe joy of our life and the punter's seemed pleased too.

Going on tour I wish we would do more of it as small town New Zealand is infinitely intriguing.
Some of the Halls out there are magical to dance in - my favourite would have the church in Thames - it was older than the hills that surrounded the wee town with amazing timeless paint dripping off the walls, streaks of sun
and bedazzling views of something other than Auckland. Six merry audience members turned up they loved it and we befriended some young spunky sculptures who were so enthused, they followed us to theCorromandel township for our next show. We were lucky enough to secure some free accommodation at the Pub-Hotel across the road where the decor hadn't been
refurbished since the early 50's, the hooligans in the pub below were too scaryforus naive Auckland City types, we sought refuge in a cafe run by a bunch of tough looking shelia's, situated next to the organic shop. Next morning was market day in Thames and every doyley imaginable was for sale and not much else.

Corromadel Township saw our biggest crowd of 40 people, they were super friendly and the local hospitality and scenery made us feel right at home. Katherine and Nigel sang for their lunch at the best cafe in town (I forget the name of it) We were treated to fine food and company and slept in a home where the tips of the trees tickled the top of the iron clad roof.

Scaring the mildly paranoid Aucklanders' that there were monsters up there. It all had a mildly dream like quality, dancing in dinky little halls
surrounded by rolling hills, chirping crickets, and giant sand dunes. One of my favourite moments was performing the 'Shoulder Dance' (Malia and I clad in nothing but our undies strumming rhythmical shoulders with our backs to the audience) on the porch of the surf life saving club at Bethels Beach. The huge quietness and night shadows were a peaceful blessing (Although we had to concentrate really hard to get that dance right).

What more can I say - I loved our little tour and would do it again anytime.

DRIFT BY NIGEL BRADDOCK
I have admired the choreography of Guy and Malia for some time and ever since I worked with Guy on 'White Noise' I've been interested in
collaborating with him again. We had discussed the idea on and off for a while of some sort of dance/live music collaboration that we could tour with and thus the seeds of Drift were born. The concept evolved into a show that we could perform in any small to mid-size community space thus giving us the opportunity to play to audiences that don't usually get the chance to see anything too left of centre.

The music would be a mixture of live performance featuring hot new band Peachy Keen i.e. acclaimed writer Kathryn van Beek singing her own songs and playing bass with myself on piano, plus some of my own original
compositions and some pre-recorded material as well.

Guy, Malia and Maria Dabrowska would develop a set of pieces to go with the music that would be performed within certain confined spaces defined by white tape on the floor. Unfortunately we had all been so busy that we didn't have time for one complete rehearsal before the first performance in Grey Lynn. In fact we weren't totally sure that we were going to perform at all up until two days before due to various injuries, personal setbacks, emotional upheavals and general chaos in our various lives. However it all came together and despite one of the principal choreographers disappearing a couple of hours before the show and the musicians doing what became their trademark dash for coffee 10 minutes before the gig started, everything went incredibly well.
The free tea, biscuits and lollies were greatly appreciated by everyone including the performers (some of whom subsequently became addicted to Mackintoshes Toffees), as were the rugs and comfy cushions on the floor.

For the next few weekends we drifted around Greater Auckland playing to houses ranging from 6 to a more respectable 40 in Coromandel.
It occurred to me after the first couple of gigs that while our concept sounded very good in theory, i.e. taking contemporary dance to the people, logistically there may be a very good reason that it doesn't happen very often. Mainly that in small centres deprived of a performing arts scene rather than go see some wishy-washy namby-pamby modern dance avant garde cabaret (whatever the hell that is) it may seem preferable to stay at home in front of the telly or to go down the local for a couple of beers. I think lack of promotion probably also let us down for the most part, our publicity usually consisting of a few fliers and posters, a plug in the local press and a bit of sidewalk-chalking on the day. However we were limited by a very modest budget.

Indeed, I think it was quite incredible that we managed to put together such a show and tour it round eight venues playing to about 175 people with such little financial support.

Drift was quite an experience, in fact it was a lifestyle for a while and I was sad when it was over. Highlights of the tour for me were performing at Palm Beach on Waiheke (irate neighbour aside), hanging out in Coromandel Town and the final Alleluya show not to mention all the fun and sometimes strange times I shared with Guy, Malia, Maria and Kathryn.

I feel honoured and privileged to have been able to work with such a talented and lovely group of people and am looking forward to our Fringe
shows together as well as any future projects that may arise (Drift 2 anyone?).

For further information on Urban Drift:
Website: < a href="http://www.fringe.org.nz/programme/EventDetail.aspx?id=95">www.fringe.org.nz