Category: Dance

Cabaret, Cabaret Review, Comedy, Dance, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Revolt Productions Presents TWO POUND PARLOUR

Vegas vaudeville – with a twist

By Myron My

Set in post-apocalyptic Vegas, Miss Friby’s Two Pound Parlour showcases a variety of dance, burlesque, cabaret, vaudeville and all those things in between.  With live music from Rapskallion, it’s a sexy – and sometimes messy – two-hour rollercoaster of fun for the audience.

Two Pound Parlour

Our MC for the evening, Miss Friby (Elizabeth Dawson-Smith) wins the audience over with her conflicting nature throughout the show. She is charismatic yet vulgar, charming yet rude, confident yet insecure. She definitely has the ability to lead this raucous evening with style, and she does it with much ease.

All of Miss Friby’s girls, Trailor De’Lamore, Zaire De Congo, Loreal Disastre and Lady Steponhe show impeccable commitment to their roles in every skit, dance and performance number. The standout of the night for me was Lady Steponhe, with her excellent comedic timing and remarkable physical fitness that allowed her to pull off such amazing routines.

The highlights of Two Pound Parlour included “Heaven In A Box” by Steponhe, which had the audience in stitches, the stomping-dance routine led by Zaire and the kissing skit/song between Trailor and Steponhe. All the dance numbers were varied and engaging to watch, however, I felt the skit/performance aspect of Two Pound Parlour was sometimes a disappointment, such as the Vegas wedding and Loreal’s rendition of “Not In A Gay Way”.

There were a few sound and mic issues, such as hearing the performers when we shouldn’t be and not being able to hear them when we should.  As great as the band was, there were moments where their sound overpowered the singing of the ladies on stage and made it difficult to hear the lyrics.

As creator of Two Pound Parlour, Dawson-Smith’s dedication and hard work has clearly come through and has put together an enjoyable show that has something to suit all – as long as you have a naughty side to explore…

Venue: Revolt Productions, 12 Elizabeth Street Kensington

Season: Until 14 July | 7:30pm, Fri-Sat 10:15pm

Tickets: $35 Full | $30 Conc

Bookings: http://revoltproductions.com

Dance, Events, Music, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: The Australian Ballet Presents VANGUARD

Mesmerising modern ballet reaches new audiences

By Ross Larkin

Few art forms command the same degree of discipline as that of dance. The absence of external tools, leaving solely the body as instrument, requires as much stability and fine-tuning as any solidly, hand-crafted alternative. The commitment is therefore not only a full-time one, but one which must be lived and breathed.

Vanguard

The Australian Ballet showcase this lifestyle to its full extent in their current production of Vanguard at the State Theatre. Three strikingly different pieces are presented back to back by highly accomplished choreographers George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian and Wayne McGregor with a beautifully, flawless outcome.

Opening with ‘The Four Temperaments’, originally choreographed by George Balanchine, performers are exposed under a stark, white light for the duration, with no external theatrical aids, save for the varied and glorious accompanying Orchestra Victoria. Viewers are hard-pressed to withdraw focus from the dancers’ palpable control and beautiful unity displayed with seemingly effortless execution.

Second offering, ‘Bella Figura’, raises the bar to stunning and mesmerising heights that impact the audience almost conspicuously. Rarely does one witness such effortless command of an audience’s attention. The moments of stillness and silence were breathtaking and captivating, and, unlike its predecessor, dramatic lighting and clever use of external elements were present in abundance, with particularly intriguing use of stage curtains.

The poignant direction of Kylian’s choreography encapsulated tasteful eroticism and tenderly seductive bodily engagement throughout, with unexpected comical moments in the form of puppetry dance.

Third piece, ‘Dyad 1929’, faces the challenge of following the former spectacular act, and initially feels slightly random and less focused, as the ensemble move frenziedly about a black polka-dot background to jarring, discordant music. Further into McGregor’s piece, however, the focus materialises with spirited passion and the gorgeously fluid dance proves as striking as its cousins, climaxing with the first male interaction of the evening.

The entire ensemble of Vanguard, each present for all acts, are graceful and flawless. Daniel Gaudiello, Lana Jones, Miwako Kubota and Calvin Hannaford leave impacting and lasting impressions, though every performer is worthy of mention.

Powerful and accessible, the Australian Ballet’s production of Vanguard is an experience deserving of a universal audience, and succeeds in moving viewers across all emotions.

Vanguard is playing now at the Arts Centre’s State Theatre with Orchestra Victoria until June 17, 2013

Dance, Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

REVIEW: Bangarra Dance Company’s BLAK

Traditional and contemporary clash and coalesce

By Tania Herbert

Founded in 1989, the Bangarra Dance Company has been heralded as one of the most important Indigenous performance groups in Australia, and it’s easy to see why with their newest work, Blak.

Blak takes the audience members on a journey of exploration of what it means to be an Indigenous Australian in modern society, with several stories through dance depicting stories of men and women caught in a clash of cultures old and new.

BangarraDanceTheatrePresentsBlak

The show opens with seven men in hoodies and skinny jeans- urbanized, disenfranchised and often violent, dancing an urban corroboree caught out of place and time. Through dynamic explosions of movement, we see the men slowly revert from lost inner city boys to men celebrating their traditional culture.

From the men we move to the women- and see a reverse story of women first from the sea, then moving to the village and into modern society  Equally engaging and impassioned, the piece deals with strong and emotive issues of women being silenced in modern society, a mother mourning the difficulties of passing on her culture to her daughters, and the fear of speaking out.

For me, however, the highlight of the performance was the following piece- where we saw men and women come together equally. Barely able to be differentiated from one another, the partner work was beautiful and uplifting. The performance closes with a stunning rain effect, and if the standing ovation of opening night was any indication, the audience was able to connect with the plethora of emotions portrayed by an amazingly talented troupe of dancers.

This is well and truly a contemporary dance show– the basic concepts are communicated clearly, but some of the complexities of the stories being told were not always so clear. However, when dancing is this beautiful, it is easy to just sit back and absorb.

The soundscape by composer David Page is an engaging as the dancing, with deep electronic beats interwoven with a haunting score, sounds of indigenous instruments, and stories told in English, Creole and Language. Costumes were beautifully designed and the onstage costume changes between modern and traditional presentation (including application of body paint) greatly added to the immersion experience.

Blak is playing at the Playhouse, Melbourne Arts Centre, and will then be touring in NSW. See website for more details: www.bangarra.com.au

Melbourne performances:

Tues 7 May, 6.30pm

8 – 11 May 2013, 8pm

Saturday 11 May, 2pm matinee

Tickets: $29 – $89

Bookings: http://artscentremelbourne.com.au or call 1300 182 183

Circus, Dance, Events, Festivals, Review, Whats On

Review: THREE HIGH ACROBATICS’ Knock Off

When renovation becomes a real balancing act

By Myron My

Making their Melbourne International Comedy Festival debut, Three High Acrobatics’ Knock Off revolves around three men who walk onto a building site and attempt to construct a contemporary circus show in eleven easy steps, including ensuring there is a love story present and having dramatic pauses throughout the story.

Three High Acrobatics

When it came to the acrobatics, the guys (Sam Aldham, Taka Seki and Christ Carlos) were strong as both charismatic performers and impressive athletes. The broom-balancing segment was beautifully performed and the aerial work had the audience mesmerised. There were a few mishaps here and there, but any show that involves such high physical demand from its performers is occasionally going to falter and, if anything, amplifies the mood in the audience to support them and see them succeed on the next attempt. The strength and the skill these three possess is not to be undermined and this is particularly proven in the final few moments of the show.

There are quite a few musical numbers– with the parody version of 90s song “Bitch” by Meredith Brooks now changed to “Bloke” being one of my favourites. One of their ‘steps’ is to include a contemporary dance scene and the one they chose had me grooving in my seat as it is also the one choreographed dance sequence by a boy band I wish I could perform! The music played is used to support and alter the mood they are trying to convey during each segment: one particularly clever example of this was during the love story, which allowed the guys to ham things up when needed.

However, as a comedy show I felt the humour in Knock Off was lacking in most parts. The energy was certainly visible but the comic element was often being stretched and didn’t feel very natural. The characters were not all that endearing and I found the ‘apprentice’ to be more annoying than anything. Clearly these guys were more comfortable with the acrobatics than with the acting.

Knock Off loses a little of its charm when it comes to the comedy, but Three High Acrobatics provide an entertaining show that will engage you with their exciting circus skills.

Venue: Wonderland Spiegeltent, 120 Pear River Rd, Harbourtown Docklands

Season: Until 20 April | 7:00pm

Tickets: $20 Full | $15 Conc

Bookings:www.ticketmaster.com.au, www.wonderlandspiegeltent.com.au, 9602 1311 & at the door

Dance, Festivals, Review, Theatre, Whats On

Review: CONVERSATION PIECE at Dance Massive

Dancers and actors blend – and battle…

By Myron My

In Lucy Guerin’s Conversation Piece, three people appear on stage and have an eight-minute conversation which is recorded using a trusty iPhone. This conversation is different each night and is completely improvised. From there, that conversation is played on loop that creates various experiences for the six performers and audience members through acting and dance.

Conversation-Piece

The dancers (Stephanie Lake, Alisdair Macindoe and Byron Perry) have great fluidity in their movements and were great to watch dancing together. There were a few moments that lacked synchronicity but as a whole, it was pretty hard to take our eyes away from them. Likewise, the three actors (Matthew Whittet, Katherine Tonkin and Megan Holloway) seemed completely at ease in their roles. What was of interest to me was having the performers doing the opposite of what they were trained in. You could see the obvious level of skill that the dancers possessed over the actors and vice versa yet they all held their own with strong commitment to what they were creating.

In the performance I attended, the standout work was the pairing of Macindoe and Whittet. Their combined efforts using the earlier conversation to create a ‘new’ one, and the dancing that then came from that was highly enjoyable as was its later intensity. Furthermore Tonkin’s improvised stinging speech to Lake using the original conversation as inspiration was amazing to watch with heightened tension thanks to lighting designer, Damien Cooper.

Conversation Piece doesn’t go where you initially think it will – this is its strength. What begins as a light and humorous conversation does take a few dark turns and the last few minutes are particularly sinister which leaves you with a feeling that these two art forms – dancing and acting – cannot co-exist. They both need to be in control, to be the leader, as if they are rival gangs fighting for turf. This mood crept up on me but then hit me quite suddenly and took me to some unexpected places. Conversation Piece is playing as part of the  contemporary dance festival Dance Massive and despite its grim outcome, creates a beautiful fusion between dance and performance.

Venue: Arts House, Meat Market, 5 Blackwood Street, North Melbourne

Season: Until 24 March | 8:30pm, Sat 2:00pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Concession

Bookings: www.dancemassive.com.au

Dance, Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: SKELETON at Dance Massive

Getting down to the bare bones…

By Myron My

Choreographed by Larissa McGowan and featuring in the Dance Massive festival this month, Skeleton has a set of characters discover the hidden stories of pop-culture icons including headphones, baseball bats and a BMX bike.

Skeleton

The performance definitely lives up to its name. The stage is skeletal: the bare essentials are the set of lights along the back wall and just a handful of props. The dancers wear white, grey or black clothing, so no complex colours are on display here. Meanwhile, there is the clever staging device of two black sliding panels that constantly move back and forth across the stage throughout the performance. As they do, they drop off or pick up performers and/or props with such precision timing that it really is a blink-and-you-miss-it exchange.

McGowan’s choreography is brilliant and all the dancers have put some extreme effort and dedication into executing it. Jethro Woodward’s score is as haunting as it is mesmerizing as the dancers move, contort and manipulate their bodies to some extreme choreographed sequences. The interesting inclusion of various film voice-overs and the incorporation of those dialogues into the performance were well-crafted.

Despite an impressive performance by all, including Tobia Booth-Remmers, Lisa Griffiths and Lewis Rankin, it was the intense presence and obvious skill of Marcus Louend and McGowan that really left an impression on my mind.

Yet as an audience member, whenever I see a performance of any sort, I want to walk away having felt something, and on the whole, I just didn’t experience this with this production. As mentioned earlier, I appreciated the strong technical performances but Skeleton lacked an emotional connection for me to drive it home. This might again have been a deliberate decision considering the piece’s title, but it may also have to do with its length, for even though the performance time falls just under an hour, it did start to become repetitious and the amazement over what we had earlier witnessed did start to wane.

Skeleton is an interesting piece of contemporary dance exploring pop icons from the past and how very easily they can be forgotten. It’s a very impressive performance but with only the unsatisfactory bare bones of a narrative on offer, perhaps more fleshing out of the ‘story’ behind it is actually needed.

Venue: The Malthouse, 113 Sturt St, Southbank

Season: Until 23 March | 8:00pm, Sat 5:00pm

Tickets: $49 Full | $41 Conc

Bookings: www.dancemassive.com.au

Dance, Events, Festivals, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Lee Serle’s P.O.V.

Experience the dance like never before

By Myron My

Commissioned by Lucy Guerin for contemporary dance festival Dance Massive and choreographed by Lee Serle, P.O.V. is a unique dance piece that looks at proximity, reactions and interactions with audiences as participants rather than just mere observers.

Being fortunate enough to grab one of the 36 swivel stools on the stage, I was thrust into this bold experience. The four dancers – Serle, James Andrews, Kristy Ayre and Lily Paska – appear and begin dancing in unison through the grid-like formation, gradually breaking off, going down various paths, like balls in a pinball machine.

P.O.V.

It’s very much an up-close-and-personal-feeling as an audience member, seeing the heavy breathing and the sweat dripping off their brow. These guys are definitely giving all they’ve got – and it works.

We are initially ignored and you can’t help but feel like an intruder. Eventually we are acknowledged and then warmed to and then we interact with the dancers in extremely unique and personal ways. P.O.V. is about blurring the line between audience member and participant: looking at how we deal with each other and what we feel from that. As Serle himself explained in his notes, it is much like life and about taking the time to interact with one another.

I went through a range of emotions throughout P.O.V: laughter, warmth, intrigue and even loneliness when asked to wear a blindfold and to experience part of the show in that state.

Hearing movement and laughter and not being able to see it allowed me to go in a deeper place and explore those emotions for some time and it was quite a moving experience. Upon removal of the blindfold it was a surprise to see everything that had occurred in the space of those minutes to other participants: all safe, all fun, and all-willing.

P.O.V. is part dance and part theatre performance and was a great introduction to Dance Massive. Highly recommended show, but do get in early to grab one of the seats on stage, as it really does make the performance so much more unique.

Venue: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry St

Season: Until 16 March | 8:30pm

Tickets: $25 Full | $20 Conc

Bookings:  www.dancemassive.com.au

Dance, Events, Performances, Review, Theatre, Whats On

REVIEW: Pat Kinevane’s SILENT

Unspoken stories given a powerful voice

By Myron My

Pat Kinevane is the writer and performer of Silent, a one-man play that combines dance, sound, silent films and monologue to create a truly captivating and touching performance.

Silent

Kinevane plays Tino, a homeless man whose cinema-crazed family named him after Rudolph Valentino. Tino looks at specific moments in his life – including the suicide of his gay brother – that have led him to become a homeless man with few possessions and who may or may not be losing his mind.

A one-man show has the potential of losing momentum and audience interest, especially when it runs at close to 80 minutes. Kinevane manages to maintain and vary the pace with different forms of narration, including short dance numbers, miming with pre-recorded voiceovers, and dynamic acting. The blending from one to another is seamless and at just the right moments- so much so, that you sometimes forget you are in fact only watching a single performer.

The large stage is left quite sparse with minimal props available, but Kinevane owns the whole performance area and with the help of well-timed lighting design, also creates an intense and claustrophobic environment thus allowing us to get further inside Tino’s head. Furthermore, the music for Silent beautifully encapsulates the emotional mood of the show and solidly supports in building on the vivid imagery that Kinevane describes to us.

Kinevane charms the audience with his character’s vulnerability and good nature and even though the material borders on crude on occasion, he manages to steer clear of actual vulgarity. His interaction with some audience members as Tino further strengthens our poignant connection to this wreck of a man.

Silent deals with the guilt and remorse we have about past actions and about trying to make amends with our own selves. This is something that we can all relate to and ultimately hope that it does not become our downfall either. A powerful story with just the right emotional strings pulled.

Venue: Southbank Theatre, The Lawler

Season: Until 10 Feb | Fri-Sat 7:30, Sat-Sun 2:00pm

Tickets: $40 Full | $35 Conc

Bookings: mtc.com.au/silent.aspx or 98688 0800

Dance, Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: EIFMAN BALLET’S Tchaikovsky

The fervid life in dance of a great artist

By Bradley Storer

In addition to their season of Anna Karenina, the Eifman Ballet also presents their original production Tchaikovsky, an expressionistic journey through the composer’s life and imagination set to his own music.

We begin at Tchaikovsky’s death bed as he is tormented by fever dreams and hallucinations, chased by phantoms from his own creations. As he retreats further into his mind we are taken into flashbacks from his life, his disastrous marriage, his insecurities and inability to connect with others, either romantically or in society at large.

Throughout the performance, Oleg Markov as Tchaikovsky danced the role with an intense but wounded poeticism, forming the impression of a man with immense genius but an equally great terror of rejection and loneliness. He was matched in brilliant lyricism by the Double (Oleg Gabyshev) and the Prince (Ivan Zaitcev), projections of Tchaikovsky’s inner turmoil and ideals of perfection. In the dances between these male characters, there is an equal balance of wonder and veiled eroticism.

Tchaikovsky’s fear of women becomes refracted and split into figures of monstrous femininity, the dark fairy Carabosse, the Queen of Spades, and a mysteriously malevolent bride who entangles him in her wedding veil. His wife (played here by Natalia Povoronzuik) unfortunately receives little time to create a full impression, and comes off a little flat and one-dimensional.

Tchaikovsky’s patroness and lifelong friend Nadezha von Meck (played by Nina Zmeviet) receives better treatment, becoming almost as equally important in the performance as Tchaikovsky himself – she becomes the audience’s main focus of empathy as we see her supporting and reaching out to the doomed composer, and her pain as he slowly slips away from her.

Because the dreamscape of the ballet is so fractured and fluid, the narrative becomes imagistic and can be a little difficult to follow without the aid of a program. Ultimately it seems like no overall message is being communicated in Tchaikosvky’s story – we see him live and we follow him to his death, but I personally was left unmoved at the end of the ballet. However, it is a world-class production with amazing performances and brilliant dances, and is well worth a visit by any ballet aficionado.

Sept 7-9, 8pm Fri-Sat, 2pm Sat-Sun

Regent Theatre Melbourne

Book online at Ticketmaster

Dance, Events, Performances, Review, Whats On

Review: EIFMAN BALLET PRESENTS Anna Karenina

Rich, rampant and inspiring theatre

By Bradley Storer

In a rare treat for Melbourne audiences, the internationally renowned Eifman Ballet Company bring their acclaimed fusion of Russian classical ballet and contemporary dance to our shores. The company’s aim, under the direction of choreographer Boris Eifman, is the creation of new ballet repertoire that attains the same psychological and thematic complexity as modern drama whilst  exploring the sublime physical dimensions which other artforms cannot approximate. The classic Tolstoy epic, Anna Karenina, certainly qualifies in terms of grandeur and depth, and the Eifman Ballet explores the possibilities of this mammoth novel to their fullest extent.

Ballet by its nature requires plots that can be communicated simply, and in this respect the multilayered and complex narrative of Anna Karenina might have been a poor choice. However, by stripping back the story to focus centrally on the love triangle between Anna, Karenin and Vronsky, the most visceral and powerful elements of the original text are brought to the forefront.

The chorus skilfully express the smothering and oppressive social atmosphere of the St Petersburg court in their tightly formalized and compact dances, gorgeously outfitted in refined dark and grey outfits (alternating with the sleek black leather of the upper aristocracy) which renders them all grandly uniform. Against this unvarying palette come the ill-fated lovers Anna (played in this performance by Maria Abashova) and Vronsky (Oleg Gabyshev), their dances weaving in and out of the static patterns of the chorus burning to be free. Abashova’s achingly beautiful dancing begins trapped inside societal confinements imposed by both court and her husband, and through the first act Abashova shows the soul inside slowly waking to love. Gabyshev is a youthful and virile presence throughout, and when the pair finally consummate their growing passion in a stunning pas de deux, we see the full grace and beauty of their movements, hitherto hidden and stifled, break through the surface at last.

Oleg Markov as Karenin shows us his character’s hopeless entrapment with the bounds of society, the audience aware every moment of Karenin’s simultaneous yearning and inability to break free of the rigid movement imposed on him – when Karenin and his wife dance together, they resemble two puzzle pieces which will never quite fit together.

In Act Two, where Anna and her lover are relegated to the fringes of Russian society as a result of her affair, we delve into deep psychological exploration of the characters’ despair as Vronsky turns to drink and Anna to morphine addiction. The morphine-fuelled fantasy of flesh which Anna dreams is one of the more abstract and challenging aspects of the production, but the final scene which follows provides a thrilling coup de theatre which both matches and heightens the intensely operatic ending and cements this company’s reputation as boundary-pushing and artistically awe-inspiring theatre-makers.

Dates: 29th August to 2nd September, 2012

Price: $55 – $190

Venue: Regent Theatre, 191 Collins St, Melbourne

Bookings: www.ticketmaster.com.au