Proximate Edifice

Shian Law & Naryana Takacs
Performed at Arts House, Meat Market, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival
1 Oct, 2011
JORDAN BETH VINCENT, Reviewer

Three dancers (choreographer Shian Law, Melissa Jones, Peter AB Wilson) wander into the performance space. They strike one nonchalant pose after another, seemingly vague and uninterested by their own actions. This sense of disengagement remains as the stillness gives way to sharp angular movements that emphasise a sense of structure and shape.

With Narayana Takacs’ shifting geometric light projection and John Nguyen’s wall of pulsing sound, this work would do well as a gallery art installation. This impression is confirmed at the end when the dancers disappear offstage, leaving only swirling digital shapes and the pound of electronic music.

Proximate Edifice is one of those works that is simultaneously mesmerising yet strangely uninteresting, never quite leaping from conceptual genesis to fully formed work. However, it does have potential for further choreographic development. Works like this, after all, are what the Fringe is all about.

Video Link: http://vimeo.com/30840749

Concept / Visual Media - Narayana Takacs
Choreographer / Performer - Shian Law
Performer - Melissa Jones
Performer - Peter AB Wilson
Music - John Nguyen
Costume - Osamu Miyagi
Dress - Craig Braybrook

Proximate Edifice was the winner of the 2011 Best Dance Award in the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

This review first appeared in The Age Newspaper