Go (dance score with David Downes and Delia Shanly)

A collaborative dance score made with David Downes and Delia Shanly. Commissioned and choreographed by Michael Parmenter.

This was our first big collaboration in the real world. Michael Parmenter had seen some of our work and, I suspect, been very enthused particularly by david's work and approach. We were approached abotu creating a large-scale dance score. It was massive, as a first step. We ended up using existing works (like David's "Diagram" and our song "Full of Sympathy") as well as creating a lot of new music. The big part of all of this wasv that we performed a lot of the score live, every night.

By the time we were working on teh next collaboration wtih Michael - Venture - Delia and I had become more or less observers to David's technical and musical prowess. There was an inevitability to what came next. Venture marked the end of our journey as a collaborative team, as it had become very clear that David Downes and Michael Parmenter had a special chemistry as a choreographer-composer duo. Together they went on to create NZ masterpieces including Insolent River and Jerusalem. Even so, creating Venture and the larger-scale "Go", was a privilege and a gift.

There are only a few pieces that can be heard....

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1992 dance production "Go" choreographed by Michael Parmenter.

Below is information regarding this specific work and other related materials available from that era:

Michael Parmenter's "Go"

• Production Details: "Go" was a significant contemporary dance work choreographed by Michael Parmenter.
• Key Performers: The production featured prominent New Zealand dancers, including Lyne Pringle and Michael Parmenter himself.
• Archival Material:
  • A black and white original photographic print of Pringle and Parmenter in "Go" is held by the National Library of New Zealand.
  • Brochures, programs, and booking forms for Parmenter’s work from this period (including "Go" and "Dancing on the Fault Line") are typically archived in physical folders within the National Dance Archive of New Zealand.

"Go" Show Details (1988)

• Title: "Go"; an evolution in dance
• Choreographer/Performer: Michael Parmenter
• Venue: Depot Theatre, New Zealand
• Dates: 23 January - 6 February 1988
• Collaborators listed in programmes: Kathryn Mowatt, Lyne Pringle, John Psathas, David Downes, Delia Shanly

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