Photo credit: Tony Lewis.
The theatrical pairing of Canada’s contemporary dance stars The Holy Body Tattoo with the legendary musicians of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in monumental was billed as one of the highlights of this year’s Adelaide Festival of Arts. David Sefton, the Festival’s Artistic Director, said the performance ‘is one of the things that comes closest to being the pure distillation of why I do what I do.’
Unfortunately, the arts audience in Adelaide was unconvinced. There were only two performances at the Festival Theatre and this one was less than half full; of those, quite a few left the auditorium before monumental reached its climax.
The performance opens with the ominous overture by GY!BE reverberating through the darkness. As the lights come up we see the eight dancers perched atop small white plinths. They dance with an erratic vigour, as if plagued by some unseen malevolence. As the music gets louder and more insistent, the dance becomes more manic. Eventually the lighting changes and the scrim lifts to reveal the eight-member band positioned high upstage. The pulsating guitars, demonic drumming, and famous fiddle-playing of GY!BE create a memorable soundscape.
This goes on, seemingly endlessly. The dancers are faultless in their precision and athleticism but there is a limit to what you can do standing on a 50cm block no matter how talented you are or how audacious the choreography. Finally the dancers come down from the plinths for some dramatic floor-work driven an even louder and more threatening soundtrack. The choreography, by company founders Noam Gagnon and Dana Gingras, is relentlessly harsh and obsessive.
All of this is given to represent the worst of modern civilisation: the isolation of urbanity; the ceaseless pressures of capitalist society; and the loss of our mutual humanity. Textual fragments created by conceptual artist Jenny Holzer are suspended above the stage, like surtitles in a bizarre post-apocalyptic opera. These come and go quickly, ephemera to be lost forever, expounding on themes of loss and loneliness, community and trust, estrangement and independence. ‘The heart can stop when you hear something not meant for your ears…’ is an emotion we’ve all experienced. ‘Don’t trust someone whose teeth appear too even and false’ is a sentiment we all understand.
monumental is also overlaid with video montages of big-city symbology by American cinematographer William Morrison. Towering wind turbines and hyper-real traffic flows are stark visual reminders of the world we live in.
It’s undeniable that monumental is a dramatic theatre piece. The work is big and brash and exceedingly loud (the usher kindly offers ear plugs as he checks your ticket). It’s also a rare opportunity to see two renowned international companies performing live on stage.
Seeing monumental is an experience, but not one that I found especially enjoyable or particularly original. And ultimately, like so many Festival pieces, it feels like the message has taken precedence over the art.
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
monumental
produced by Animals of Distinction
presented by The Holy Body Tattoo and Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Two Australian performances only at the Adelaide Festival of Arts, Festival Theatre, on 4 & 5 March.
