Briwyant & Uneasy Futures Launch.

DANCE.
A 2011 oldie. Vicki Van Hout's Briwyant & Performance Space's Uneasy Futures launch @ CarriageWorks.

Directed by Vicki Van Hout

Performance Space launched their Uneasy Futures season on Thursday night, creating a buzz of excitement with their World of Things in the foyer of host venue CarriageWorks. A pick-and-mix of delightful and ‘awfully wonderful’ things entertained the large crowd that gathered. Adam Norton’s Mars Gravity Simulator 2010/2011transported us to space in his defiance of gravity, Simon Yates’ Metropolis Robot (Futura) 2011 shocked people as it suddenly began to move when left to its own devices, and Hayden Fowler’s Anthropocene 2011 set a monument to the last day on Earth. The launch introduced a season of visual and performing arts that contemplate visions of the future and of moving towards the unknown, with work from version 1.0, Dean Walsh, exhibitions Awfully Wonderful, and The Disappearances Project.  

One of the new works is Vicki Van Hout’s Briwyant, which concluded the launch with a bang, explorinng Indigenous cultural expression in a multifaceted approach to performance.

The stage was littered with playing cards. Each strategically arranged to stand erect, cleverly positioned to form a visual three-dimensional landscape. Aesthetically intriguing they became trees ... or were they buildings, creating a span of country, town and city. This is where the performance started and finished: with cards. Not only did they act as visual art on stage, and supported the performance as props, but introduced strong themes of luck, chance, and game, reminiscent of Italo Calvino's The Castle of Crossed Destinies. Life as a game. This gave precedence for a decisive and thoughtful telling of Indigenous traditions within city life, using humor, wit, and knowledge to flow beautifully through the human body and multimedia forms in this strong presentation.

As these tales were told the dancers bodies expressed them through movement, clearly translating emotions, relationships and personal stories. The opening sequence introduced the bodies, pressing against a malleable white wall, escaping through and presenting them in front of us. Despite their initial physical struggle we are let into their worlds and allowed to witness their stories, which become the next hour of the audiences’ lives. Combining traditional and contemporary dance elements the bodies transgress time and space, speaking to the past and present, and tactfully educate and entertain. Dancers Henrietta Baird, Ian RT Colless, Ghenoa Gela Raghav Handa, Vicki Van Hout and Mel Tyquin communicate these messages with commanding internal and external commitment.

The dancers press together in powerful partner work throughout, showing a confidence and coordination between them. Together they pull and turn away, struggling and leaping with strong sharp momentum. A strong focus is put on the torsos which scoop and circle, isolated from the head undulations and movements. Heads and arms flick while legs rotate and kick, limbs flinging and circulating. Gestures are interwoven into contemporary choreography, where stillness highlights the flowing movement.

An influential third player is introduced into the partnerships: a shawl. At times the women nurture them in their arms in a metaphoric sign of motherhood, wrapping heads in them and leading the dance, before using them as an interlocking device with their partners. Circling, pulling and sliding these teams support each other, upright and proud before tearing away into rolls and tumbling.

This performance was all about shape and space. And it was done in great detail. The layout of the stage was very precise, and focused the movements around and within it. The dancers timelessly wandered through the space and scenery created by the playing cards, contrasting to their sitting in a tent or laying chatting. Formations were direct and intentional, with lines, circles and patterns mingling amongst the space as well as lines of light.

The bodies used shape and space, creating angles as the arms played with right angles in traditional formations, as well as humorous ways. The torso remained the power base of the movement while the elbows lead movements and pulled the bodies off center with control. Knees shook and exposed fluid movements within the hips, knees and ankles. Backs slumped over before erecting in repetitive successions. Liquefied rolls through the body contrasted to the still angles and sharp gestures, whilst clapping and slapping flowed through time, accenting the dancing and stories.

Credit must be given to all involved in the production, with the multimedia elements being complex and fruitful to the performance. Fragments of light littered the stage throughout, whilst clever photographic flashes in one moment awaken the senses and draw the audience in to the media world on stage. Live recording was employed, as well as shadows, and silhouettes on a screen, enacting message and meaning. All elements lay foundations for the dancing at times, whilst complimenting and corresponding to it at other times. Still photos were displayed in video form, along with snippets of video footage and scopes, playing with multifaceted levels of technology and performance. The music moves in and out of silence, static, versus electronic calming sounds. It all came together as a complimenting piece of artistry, to display social and political messages.

These performance elements were a wonderful device in communicating messages of past into present; rural into suburban. Is it a plight for ecstasy? For sex, money, love, possessions? A male cross dresses, another knows where to find the best cuts of meat, another drinks in a pub, while a lady shops for a bargain at a pawn shop. It’s local knowledge to them, but how does this translate from the dreamtime to the present? In the end the cards are destroyed. The land is destroyed. Leaving us only with the people and their stories.

Artists: Marian Abboud, Kay Armstrong, Henrietta Baird, Ian Colless, Elias Constanopedos, Imogen Cranna, Ghenoa Gela, Raghav Handa, Guy Harding, Vicki Van Hout, Mel Tyquin.