Photo by Miguel Rios
Outer Urban Projects’ latest production was a beautiful thing to behold; you would struggle to find a more diverse stage anywhere. Grand DiVisions is much more than a pretty face. It has heart, depth and a power to move people in a way that few productions can. The stage was packed to capacity, so much so that three of the most junior performers had to take a seat in the stalls, but rather than feel crowded the room felt warmed by a communal bustle and a will to participate.
Only the dancers periodically left the stage in a performance that felt as much as a gathering of friends and their many talents as it did a prepared show. And what talents they were. First were the storytellers, telling a story that we’ve all heard many times before. One of difficulties faced in lands far away, undying hope and a long journey that ended in Australia. For all its repetition, it’s rarely told by those whose story it is. Rinsed of narrative, political spin and hidden agendas, it became a human story once more – simple, gripping and unquestionably honest. These human stories of migration, for any reason, complete the link between the journey and the destination, the local and the external ‘other’.
Next were the slam poets and the songs to fill in the gaps that words can’t reach. Stories of self, polyglot identities and the challenges of day to day life, peppered with songs of both past and present. Each performer borrowed from the communal pot and added something of their own so that the many stories bled into and mingled with each other to create a sense of deep understanding among the entire group. Every story was important, and every story was waited for expectantly by a captive audience both on and off the stage.
On stage, the energy was incredible and by its conclusion, Grand DiVisions had the audience all but dancing in the aisles. The performers’ stories criss-crossed the globe, from Chile to South Africa, India to Iran, and managed to focus the dynamism of this journey on a single point for a time. Providing the backing track was the most brilliantly weird chamber orchestra complete with Tablas and a harp that was as comfortable with Vivaldi as with beat boxes and slam poetry backing tracks.
As the show built to its conclusion, the dancers returned with grace and poise and even the three juniors, initially banished to the bench, returned to deliver some of the best rhymes of the night. This was the multi-cultural contemporary Australia that we don’t see often enough of and we will no doubt be seeing more of, because Grand DiVisions is truly top class.
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 Stars
Grand DiVisions
Presented by Outer Urban Projects, Newboys Foundation and Arts Centre Melbourne in association with the Melbourne Festival
Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio
14-17 October 2015
Melbourne Festival
www.festival.melbourne
8-25 October 2015
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