As is the case most years when I come to the end of Melbourne's arts festival season, I feel pretty flat. Too many shows, too many hours travelling and sitting in darkened spaces, too many late nights.
And to top it off, I didn't see one dance show which really excited me. Whether this is a reflection on the art or or on me as an audience member is hard to say.
You can read my hasty reflections on The Age website, and the (perhaps less hastily scrawled) views of my esteemed colleague Dr Jordan Beth Vincent.
Here are the links :
Tom Tom Crew: Urban beats and acrobatics, performed by a bunch of hot Aussie blokes.
Balletlab presented the world premiere of Aviary: Adorned with amazing costumes, this three act piece ranges from naturalistic mating rituals to nightclub scenes and brilliant, postmodern ballet.
We Came From the East: By Papuan choreographer Jecko Siompo, hip hop meets traditional dance, Indo-style.
Byron Perry's first full length piece Double Think: A duo of split-second timing for Lee Serle, Kirstie McCracken, some ingenious boxes and lighting.
Assembly: Gideon Obarzanek's last creation as Artistic Director of Chunky Move: made with the help of 60 young Victorian Opera singers and eight dancers, it looked at the choreography of crowds and the loneliness within them.
Hofesh Schechter returned to Melbourne with Political Mother: an onslaught of live guitars and drums, screaming vocals and gut wrenching action.
And finally, my less than effusive wrap of the festival from a dance perspective.
Presented at Art Play, Melbourne
October 13 -16, 2011
Created by Sally Chance
As we enter the warm, light filled space at ArtPlay, surrounded by mums and babies seated on soft pastel rugs, a sense of community is instantly established. Gentle music plays in the background, people smile and murmur. It’s a good place to be, the energy is positive and gentle.
And when Heather Frahn begins to sing, simple syllables and baby-like vocalisations in a lilting melody, it becomes clear that this experience will be about more than just warmth and light and comfort, it will also be very beautiful.
Created by Adelaide-based artist Sally Chance, This [Baby] Life is a half-hour of gently immersive, quietly playful art for babies aged four months to eighteen months. The babies are free to crawl and totter around the space, or remain closely snuggled with their carer. Adventurous little ones may find themselves playing peekaboo with a friendly adult, or having a blanket swirled through the air above their heads.
There’s nothing sudden or frightening or boisterous here, just gorgeous music and pleasant dance, performed by a trio of friendly grown-ups.
Dancers Tuula Roppola and Stephen Noonan crawl about the space, making eye contact with their young audience and mirroring the babies’ actions. Some children find it quite fascinating, to have a big person nearby who moves just like themselves. The crawling action flows into a floor-based movement sequence, set to Frahn’s wonderful instrumental sounds.
Mandola, melodic steel drums and a caxixi shaker combined with amplified voice allow for a variety of sounds and tonal colours, while keeping the music simple and soothing. The familiar melody of Row Row Row Your Boat is used several times, cocooning the young audience in familiarity while also coaxing them into a new environment. At an energetic moment, egg-shaped rattles are offered to the little people so that they can join in the bouncy music making.
As the final sleepy notes subside, there’s no rush to leave the room. That gentle energy remains, as do the performers and the instruments, allowing time for play and conversation and thanks giving for such a thoughtfully devised, nurturing experience.
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
Melenie Crowe Dance
Performed at Dancehouse, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival
5 October, 2011
Danced by a skilled bunch of young professionals, Melenie Crowe's double bill Duality is mildly entertaining though roughly hewn work.
Gretchen’s Mind, a physical exploration of mental illness, struggles to avoid clichés. The mature presence of actor/dancer Meredith Kitchen provides a useful anchor for the younger artists, who mostly lack the butoh-type intensity required to pull off Crowe’s dramatic demands. A teddy bear, white night-gowns and strobe lights are sure-fire anguish inducers.
Evolution/Devolution eschews narrative, relying instead on dynamic movement. Insectoid shapes and twitching, twisting sequences are set to pounding electronic music with lurid, flashing lights. Lone male, Alya Manzart, cuts a powerful solo, but other sections are disjointed and unimaginative. Syncopated star jumps and knee slides top off a night of contemporary dance that might suit a general TV audience.
Performed by: Alya Manzart, Ashleigh Perrie, Charlotte Humphrey, Jayde MacDonough, Jin Cheng, Lisa Baruta, Lisa Wilson, Meredith Kitchen, Rain Francis & Paris (child performer).
A version of this review appeared in The Age newspaper.
