MOUNTAIN: Clark x Melanie Lane
★★★1/2 – Reviewed by Celina Lei
Contemporary dance with haute couture costumes accompanied by a music score performed live on stage, perhaps goes to show that, sometimes, less is more. MOUNTAIN was choreographed by Melanie Lane, with electronic music producer Clark and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble on the score and Australian designer Akira Isogawa on costume – all elements that could work beautifully independently but, when put together, felt to be in competition.
It meant that the five dancers were only afforded two-thirds of the stage when there was clearly a desire to go beyond, and the Chamber Ensemble sometimes overtook in terms of stage presence. However, Lane’s choreography managed to deliver ethereal moments that shifted from a rocky landscape of huddled bodies to the dancers evoking a sense of elegance and mystique as if in a fairytale scene.
The strength in Isogawa’s costuming was most apparent when the sheer delicate material would flutter around the dancers’ waists and arms with their movement, but denim elements that appeared almost architectural sometimes felt like a distraction, especially when the performers progressively stripped down into skintight bodysuits by the end.
For this reviewer, the solo numbers shone consistently above the collective routines, but when the five dancers joined their hands in a dancing circle akin to Matisse’s celebrated painting, they captured a bond that felt genuine, trusting and emotional. Here, limbs became links connecting mind and body, where the dancers navigated their way gracefully around each other without ever letting go.
Mountain
Choreographer: Melanie Lane
Composer: Clark
Costume Designer: Akira Isogawa
Dancers: Sara Black, Max Burgess, Tyrel Dulvarie, Yolanda Lowatta
Musicians: Canberra Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble and Clark
Lighting Designer: Bosco Shaw
Orchestrator: Tristan Coelho
Producer: Visions / Freya Waterson
Associate Producer: Chelsea Byrne
MOUNTAIN: Clark x Melanie Lane was performed on 24 August at Melbourne Recital Centre as part of Now or Never 2024.
Constellations
★★★ – Reviewed by Celina Lei
Studio Lemercier’s major projection work, Constellations, on the Birrarung/Yarra River has proven to be a crowd stopper. Accompanied by a celestial soundscape by Paul Jebanasam, the work adds wonder to Melbourne’s night scene in a heavily visited pedestrian area along the Southbank Promenade.
Projected directly onto a curtain of spraying water, Constellations has its spell-binding moments, but the imagery of shifting shapes and colours can get quickly repetitive. It also appears that the projection is only single-sided, making one wonder if it was purposefully arranged to face the waterside restaurants, though diners are unlikely to get an optimal view judging by the crowd gathered right in front of the projection for the most immersive experience.
The beautiful thing about this work predominantly lies in how it brings people together and provides so many different access points for viewing. Among the crowd are people of all ages, tourists, office workers, students, food delivery drivers… It makes the experience a communal one, even for those just passing through – if they can put up with the crowded footpath for a few minutes.
ArtsHub recommends the best viewing spot to be outside of The Channel, where one can enjoy a moment of respite away from the chaos of Princes Bridge.
Constellations is on view again from 29-31 August, 6-11pm; free.
Anthony Naples/COUCOU CHLOE/Erika de Casier/Sleep D
★★★★1/2 – Reviewed by Celina Lei
The success of Now or Never’s takeover of the Royal Exhibition Building continued from its opening night straight through to the final line-up on 25 August, with a well-balanced mix of techno-house, sensuous R&B, seriously danceable beats and some of the most impressive projections to be seen at a live music event.
Being the first on set with a crowd that’s yet to warm up is never easy, but Anthony Naples handled the opening well, slowly setting the scene for more intense acts to follow. By the time COUCOU CHLOE walked on stage, the crowd was pumping, as were the lights, which flashed with bright intensity in sync with her hypnotic beat and empowering lyrics.
The digital art of Jahra Wasasala x Eek (Henry Lai-Payne) took over the Great Hall in a brief interlude between performances, but it was enough to wow, with extraterrestrial forms engaged in an epic battle across the two versatile projection screens hovering above the stage.
The sweet voice and calming presence of Erika de Casier was met enthusiastically by screaming fans. Her drummer J Ludvig III rounded out the performance with smooth mastery of both traditional and digital percussion, with a stage presence that matched Casier’s.
Sleep D duo Maryos Syawish and Corey Kikos delivered the final set with high energy and this is where the lights and projection screens showcased their fullest potential to the awe of this reviewer. Light beams were synced up with on-screen projections and at times shot up like fireworks, while at others, appeared like water ripples across the fresco-ed ceiling of the 144-year-old venue. It was a visual sensation that captivated, even for people who may not have been the biggest techno or electronic music fans.
Anthony Naples/COUCOU CHLOE/Erika de Casier/Sleep D performed on 25 August at the Royal Exhibition Building as part of Now or Never 2024.
Silent Symphony
★★★★ – Reviewed by Madeleine Swain
Last year RISING surrounded us with fidgety projected people and large screens depicting both drummers and life in New York City in Euphoria, while the same festival this year filled the space with the exuberance of the Warumpi band’s story in Big Name, No Blankets. And for Now or Never this year the same space was utilised in a very different way. Silent Symphony couldn’t have been further removed from ILBIJERRI‘s ‘rousing and heart-warming musical’, but it cast an equally bewitching spell.
In turn reminding viewers of a mist-shrouded oil field, those drinking birds that seemed to be particularly popular in the 70s, rising light-filled UFOs or perhaps even Hills hoists with satellite dishes attached to their peripheries, Silent Symphony comprised seven kinetic sculptures interpreting the ‘celestial patterns’ of the universe in their movements and their sound and light patterns.
Designed by United Visual Artists in collaboration with Ben Frost, the seven individual mechanical contraptions swirled and dipped, while humming and lighting up in various disparate rhythms. Allegedly infinite in its pattern-making (although who would have stayed there long enough to find out?), the installation invited audiences to sit and experience, wander into the middle of it or climb up a level to witness from above.
Mesmerising and enveloping, it was a wonderfully hypnotic experience into which the spectator could sink, relax and open their mind. Of course, an empty mind invites all sorts of fleeting thoughts to course through it, such as: with this installation and the production of Frankenstein running concurrently in Melbourne, were all the dry ice and smoke machine operators working overtime?
Silent Symphony was at Melbourne Town Hall from 22 to 25 August as part of Now or Never 2024.
