An Inanimate Distraction: Above Ground
Something climbed out of the primordial swamp, writhing, rolling, undulating across the floor. Choreographer and Performer Kathryn Puie explains that Soft Prosthetics and Metal Gods explores the space between prosthesis, the body and the embodied gaze.
Soft Prosthetics and Metal Gods is the first piece of two in the contemporary dance project, Above Ground, performed at the Lennox Theatre at the Parramatta Riverside. The piece is interesting in the way a shop of curiosities is interesting. Showing us small curiosities that have no clarity around what they are, but we are never the less, momentarily spellbound.
Soft Prosthetics and Metal Gods appeared to be exactly what it was, which was a study between the human, the mechanical and the prosthetic. On this occasion, I found the use of inanimate objects on stage problematic. There is a line that was crossed where the storytelling or relational aspect of the performance was lost and what was expressed became purely about serving the inanimate. This performance communicates as a study where the joins between the thought process and performance are visible. We can see where the choreographer has thought about “what can we do with this” “how can we get into this next position to create this shape?” The thought and charm of the seamless has left and the inevitable predictability of what was coming next was felt and therefore the whole performance was an inevitable journey towards putting on stilts.
The ambitiousness and experimental nature of Soft Prosthetics and Metal Gods is admirable. The lofty ideas of playing with a tripod, wheel mount, stilts and a videographer and performer Lux Eterna’s camera by the performers was both abstract and interesting. The piece was in line with current practices by bringing process into the performance by having the performers use the video camera and by introducing the audience into the performance space by projecting them onto the back wall live. The video design and interactivity was interesting and supported the rest of the piece well.
Cat’s Cradle, the second of the two pieces was an energetic exploration of the monstrous feminine. A violent and physically charged piece it played with the sensuality and violence of touch, tension and relationship. Directed by Joshua Thomson and performed by Angie Diaz and Macarena Brevi, Cat’s Cradle is a short form piece that plays with the line between caress and violence, support and risk.
The performance is built around the prop of the cat’s cradle, which is a frame constructed by David Jackson. It is a black rectangular frame which is rigged from the roof. There is 100 ropes suspended from the frame which hang down allowing the performers to climb or be harnessed within the structure.
The marionette associations of a controlling relationship were not lost on the audience, some of which could be heard making associations to relationships in their own lives.
Lighting design by Benjamin Brockman and Sound design and composition by Zackari Watt really is to be applauded as this dance piece relies entirely on these two elements to elevate the tension within the show and to edit what can be seen within the very open space of the Lennox Theatre.
Over all it was an interesting evening of dance. Both dance pieces attempted to push boundaries which is never an easy task. The performers were completely committed to the projects which should be acknowledged.
These pieces were for those who enjoy contemporary dance and are interested in bearing witness to the process of creation. Both pieces were challenging to the audience in different ways. Above Ground is an artistic inquiry into relationship between the inanimate and the physical using the unflinching human form.
Christina Donoghue – Theatre Now
Photography Credit: Heidrun Lohr
Above Ground
Legs On The Wall & Kathryn Puie
21 – 23 June 2018
Thu – Sat 8pm
Venue: Riverside: Lennox
Theatre Company: Form Dance Projects And Riverside Theatres Present
Duration: 60 Min (No Interval)
ABOVE GROUND
FEATURING LEGS ON THE WALL AND KATHRYN PUIE
A Double Bill of dance exploring the subtleties of above ground movement with apparatus.
CAT’S CRADDLE
Legs On The Wall
In Cat’s Cradle, Australia’s celebrated physical theatre company Legs On The Wall, explores the depths of what is private and what is public. How do we navigate between what we desire to do and how we are expected to act?
This work delves into the intimacy between a couple who crave more from their newfound relationship. Cat’s Cradle hums with an underlying tension between the performers, sometimes playful sometimes painful.
The performers expertly utilise simple but commanding apparatus that looms over the space like a curtain of tentacles, revealing the underbelly of the story. Cat’s Cradle tantalises us, as it coerces us to look at our own desires where reality and fantasy collide. But will any of us admit to it?
“Risky, gutsy and sometimes wild” (The Sun Herald)
Please note: Mature adult themes. Recommended age 16 plus
CHOREOGRAPHERS
JOSHUA THOMSON
SOFT PROSTHETICS AND METAL GODS
Kathryn Puie and Lux Eterna
What is prosthetic to what? How repressed is the body? Existing in a highly ocularcentric culture have we lost touch with the haptic realm… As a species dependent on external devices/prosthetics to enhance, extend and expand our human experience, is it possible to breathe life and extend consciousness into these inanimate objects? Who is moving what, and what is moving who?
Kathryn Puie brings her extraordinary versatile physicality to the stage in a new variation of her career-long foray into dance for stilts in collaboration with visual artist, Lux Eterna.
“There’s an ambiguity in prosthesis, underpinned by labile space between replacement, augmentation and generation. Between, recovery, substitution and experimentation” (The Prosthetic Cosmos E.Grosz)
CO-DEVISORs AND PERFORMERs
KATHRYN PUIE
LUX ETERNA
SOUND DESIGN
ASHLEY SCOTT
“Puie’s aggressive athleticism combined with sliding grace” (Real Time)
“Every walking step fine tuned into subtle moves, precise articulations and sensual ripplings—life is dance.” (Real Time)
“Ultimately the dance is about body against body, skin against skin; sometimes restrained, sometimes tender, sometimes wild.” (deborahjones.me)
Ticket Prices
Adult $35
Conc $28
Children & School bookings $28
Transaction fees apply $1.65 – $4.60
