In their current program, under the umbrella name Vitality, Dirty Feet bring us three exciting, challenging works and showcase some tremendous dancing.
The opening work, Morphic, was performed in three sections and set out to examine ‘the relationships and dependencies we have with technology and the idiosyncrasies that are manifested as a result’; and how humans adapt and upgrade. As the audience entered, the three performers – all in ‘hot’ short dresses and high heels, with wonderful feathered fascinators by Betty Belle – were frantically separating a huge bundle of twisted electrical/computer cables. Three piles are eventually created, one of just a few very artily posed against the wall, a large messy jumbled heap, and a Zen-like obsessively neat sculptural square of black and white cables. The soundscape for this first section was reminiscent of the wind, perhaps, or the sea, or possibly electrical interference. One section of this work had repeated phrases of movement where the dancers were frantically sending text messages on their mobile phones – short snappy movements included a head tilt, anxious bob, rub of the leg etc. This section was perhaps reminiscent of the Fondue Set.
Then suddenly the mood changed: two of the dancers became dark, threatening creatures that battled with the third for her mobile phone in a nightmarish sequence. In the mysterious half light, one of the dancers emerged, wearing the huge jumbled ball of tangled cables – is she trying to escape? A robot? An alien being? A Frankenstein’s monster? With the ominous use of heartbeats for this section, and also the use of shadow, she seemed also quite arachnid.
One of the other dancers had a voluptuous solo with opulent arms that end with her on the floor. The work ended frenetically, with the cast taking numerous photographs of each other on their mobiles. Was it all a dream? A mysterious ritual?
The middle work, Quest, is a powerful, engrossing solo performed by Miranda Wheen. It has been seen before as part of Chronology Arts Synchronicity program last year and was also part of Campbelltown’s Aurora Festival of Living Music.
An elegant woman in a ‘little black dress’ and high heels is caught in a square of light. She looks like a glamorous shop mannequin. Through repeated phrases of movement, very obviously in the del Amo style, she explores light and space. It begins and ends with her back turned to the audience and very subtle movements of the shoulders. At one point in the solo there are vertical spirals of movement; at another there are sharp, Flamenco like stamps. Wheen has amazing control yet at the same time it is as if she is a newly created being exploring the world for the first time. Finely crafted with great attention to subtle detail, this is a magnificent performance.
The third work, Shudder had a very strange, Surrealist feel to it, as if the two excellent dancers were in a mysterious floating world. It began and ended with Sean Marcs’ head in Cloe Fournier’s lap. There was quite a bit of floor work, intimate sculptural entwined pas de deux with fingers snaking up the back of the partner, and some mirroring /echoing of movements. For me there was possibly a Cunningham-style feel to some of the choreography, and some of the lifts in the pas de deux were quite unusual. Speech is also included – Fournier gives an impassioned speech toward the end in a mix of French and nonsense sounds. The last section of the work has the two dancers turn into mysterious floral-headed creatures and repeat a lot of the difficult, demanding pas de deux. A strange, thought provoking work, accompanied by excellent and dramatic lighting.
A challenging, intriguing program.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Vitality
A Dirty Feet & Chronology Arts collaboration
MORPHIC
Director/choreographer: Sarah-vyne Vassalla
Composer: Andrew Batt-Rawden
Dancers and devisers: Anthea Doropolous, Sarah Fiddaman and Brianna Kell
Outside eye: Emma Saunders
Millinery design: Betty Belle
QUEST
Choreographer: Martin del Amo
Composer: Alex Pozniak
Dancer: Miranda Wheen
Original live music performed by Andrew Smith (saxophone) and Luke Spicer (viola)
Recorded musicians: Andrew Smith (saxophone) and James Wannan (viola)
Recording engineers: Jacob Craig and Matthew McGuigan of Hospital Hill
SHUDDER
Choreographer: Kathryn Puie
Composer: Daniel Blinkhorn
Dancers/co-devisers: Cloe Fournier and Sean Marcs
Reginald Theatre, The Seymour Centre, Chippendale
8-10 August
