Sasha Waltz and Guests, Korper. Photo: Bernd Uhlig
 |
2009 has been a pretty big year for me. My son was born, my mentor and friend Hilary Crampton passed away, and in between all the living and dying, there was work.
You can read the summary of the year's dance performances that I wrote for The Age here, but I also thought I'd share the replies I made to the Dance Australia Magazine's critics survey. They're brief, but at least give an overview of how I saw the year.
Highlight of the year:
Sasha Waltz and Guests, Körper (my review for The Age here)
Most significant dance event:
The deaths of Merce Cunningham, Pina Bausch and Hilary Crampton
Most interesting Australian group or artist
Meryl Tankard and Paul White - The Oracle
Most interesting overseas group or artist:
Sasha Waltz and Guests
Most outstanding choreography
Graeme Murphy’s Nutcracker – The Story of Clara for the Australian Ballet.
Best new work (can be local or international)
The Oracle
Most outstanding dancer
Sergei Polunin – Royal Ballet – performing in the International Ballet Gala
Paul White – The Oracle
Harriet Ritchie – Lucy Guerin Inc - Structure & Sadness
Lana Jones – Australian Ballet - One of the only dancers to nail Dyad 1929 in the Concord program
Dancer to watch
Annabel Knight – Sydney Dance Company (my review of Rafael Bonachela's 360 for The Age here)
Daniel Gaudiello – he was outstanding in the Australian Ballet’s Concord Program
Critic's gripe:
The misconception held by the general public that any ballet company from Russia must be wonderful. And the generally low performance standard of said companies. (My review of the Imperial Russian Ballet Company's Swan Lake here)
dance out there is very excited to hear that Mobile States are putting together two tours for 2011:
• A conventional tour of a single work;
• A contemporary performance event featuring multiple works of diverse genres & formats
Excited because it means that audiences (like my good self) will get to see some fantastic new Australian work, but more excited for the artists who will be involved.
Touring around Australia is never easy, but the support of well organised, government funded bodies like Performing Lines makes it slightly more achievable. Previous Mobile States tours include Dancenorth's Underground, Lucy Guerin Inc's Love Me and Back to Back's small metal objects.
So, to all my dear movement-based practitioners, get busy and send in your proposal! Applications close February 8, 2010. See www.performinglines.org.au for more details.
Directed by Meryl Tankard
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
December 2, 2009
The Oracle is a brief but powerful piece which builds to a climax of unearthly energy. Choreographed by Meryl Tankard with performer Paul White, the movement is driven by Stravinsky’s masterpiece The Rite of Spring.
Tankard draws on many sources of inspiration, not least the life of Vaslav Nijinsky, the virtuoso dancer and original choreographer of this score. Nijinsky’s battles with mental illness are alluded to through tortured postures and a constant sense of vulnerability, despite the obvious strength of White’s muscular body.
The strange landscapes created by Scandinavian painter Odd Nerdrum are also a strong presence. The dark colour scheme, peculiar costume and even distinctive actions such as licking the floor are clearly inspired by Nerdrum’s paintings, so that at times it seems Tankard is meticulously extrapolating, bringing his haunting and mysterious world to life.
Régis Lansac’s videography builds the sense of other-worldliness, morphing and manipulating footage of White into images of pagan gods, with unseeing eyes and ever- evolving appendages. The video is also functions brilliantly as a mirror, allowing White to duet with his shadowy reflection. This duality heightens the sense of mental and physical instability, as though the Oracle is at once real and imagined, an elemental force unhappily trapped in human form.
White’s physical prowess is astounding, particularly in the explosive final section. Seemingly impossible, gravity-defying leaps inverting and suspending his body horizontally are linked with delicate and detailed spiralling shapes through his spine and arms, distressingly propelled by the dramatic notes of Stravinsky’s score. Combining fine, fluid technique and bombastic power with an impressive stage presence, he is thrilling to watch.
Potent, unsettling, and hard to define, The Oracle is a psycho-drama which communicates on a primal level. Tankard is back at her best with this visually ominous and aurally stunning piece.
First published in The Age newspaper
