Matthew Westwood
Dan Daw had some very specific requirements for fellow performers when putting together his new show, Exxy.
Daw, an Australian dance-maker based in Britain, launched a series of auditions across the UK and eventually found three performers whose physicality resembles his own.
“They all responded to our open call, we held auditions up and down the country, and we found these gorgeous souls,” he says.
Performers Joe Brown, Tiiu Mortley, Sofia Valdiri and Daw will appear at the Sydney Opera House from Thursday when Exxy opens as part of the Sydney Festival. Two of the performers are survivors of strokes; the other two, including Daw, were born with cerebral palsy.
Daw arrives for this interview at a café in Surry Hills on a hot summer morning, his T-shirt revealing full-sleeve tattoos. He orders an iced coffee and explains the idea behind the show: imposter syndrome, or the feeling of not living up to one’s own or others’ expectations.
In Daw’s case, there was the excitement and terror of producing his biggest show to date, and also the childhood memory of endless medical appointments and therapies.
“Subconsciously, I’m being told that I need to walk straighter, I need to not over-balance, I need to not drool, I need to speak clearly, I need to make sure my handwriting is legible… so that I can pass in the world as able-bodied as I can,” he says.
“Of course, [the specialists] are doing it to help me, but it also comes as a cost. Exxy is exploring that cost: what if I dared to just be myself, and let myself stumble, and let myself drool – and what’s going to happen if I do that?”
He continues: “That’s why we recruited the three other performers who move very similarly to me, so I could have the experience of actually blending in, and what that feels like.”
Daw grew up in Whyalla, SA, and cites his grandmother Heather as a formative influence. He recently spent Christmas with her before coming to Sydney for New Year and the local premiere of Exxy.
Heather, a callisthenics choreographer, encouraged him when he was growing up to keep doing his physical exercises, but also to be himself.
“I think most of us have doubted ourselves at one point or another,” Daw says. “Most of us have had a grandmother or a significant family member who means the absolute world to them. In a way, [Exxy is] reflecting on how far I’ve come, and opens up the door for audiences to reflect on how far they’ve come. It’s a moment to gather and reflect on where we’ve been.”
Daw has worked with Australian companies including Restless Dance Theatre and Force Majeure but, finding only limited opportunities in this country for a performer with his physicality, he moved to Britain in 2010.
He successfully auditioned to join the ensemble of London’s Candoco Dance Company and also worked with Skanes Dansteater in Sweden, before forming his own company, Dan Daw Creative Projects, in 2015.
A decade on, Daw is building an international reputation with shows including Beast and The Dan Daw Show, which caused a sensation at the Edinburgh International Festival and the Under the Radar theatre festival in New York. Other opportunities are on the horizon in Canada and in Asia.
In the Sydney Festival season, as elsewhere, each of Daw’s productions begins with a pre-show access session to demonstrate the show’s maximum levels of brightness and sound, allowing ticket-holders to familiarise themselves with the theatre.
“It’s available to people who do need it and find it beneficial,” Daw says. “We are holding audiences in the way that they deserve to be held.”
Exxy had its world premiere at Battersea Arts Centre in London last October and toured to four other venues in Britain, supported by a partnership called New Dimensions.
The hour-long performance explores vulnerability and the greater good that arises when people work together, rather than against each other. A hardy desert plant, familiar from Daw’s youth, is used as a symbol of sharing and mutual care.
“We use saltbush as a metaphor to talk about how we can nourish each other,” he says. “Growing up in the outback, in a desert landscape, I grew up around saltbush. So (the show) is using saltbush as the wider metaphor to beg the question: What if we shared the resource, rather than keeping it for ourselves?
“It’s touching on community, on resilience, and working together and making sure that we can be better humans – to make sure that no one gets left behind.”
Exxy, Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House, January 15-18.
