Naked Dream - Review

Reviewed by Lydia Cheng
On Friday night, Rachel Collis took over the stage at Riverside Theatres. Rafferty's Stage may not call to mind an imposing stage like New York's Carnegie Hall, but for a performer like Collis, the venue is perfect for her piano and her band. With Michael Galeazzi on electric and double bass and Michael Quigley on drums, Collis' music is built up even more and the audience can peek into Collis' mind.

Before the show began, conversations about her filled the audience. Why yes, she was at the Fringe Festival earlier. Didn't you realize that she was working on several other songs? A few of her songs come from real life inspiration; however, she does disclaim that certain pieces are not inspired by her cat, which according to Pet Hell should be made into mince, or her local restaurant that blew up as a result of arson in So Your Dreams Went Boom.

With that, the lights dimmed, and Collis stepped out on stage, barefoot, before striding over to the piano. Her first two songs, Tomorrow and If I Could, are lovingly crooned out to the audience, allowing them to settle back into their seats.

The fourth song began to reveal her theatrical side. The French Door Thief is silly but charming. Dim lighting and a snazzy chorus showcase Collis' ability to step into a persona: I am reminded of someone from the 1920s, or a cabaret singer who dabbles in the burlesque arts. She shakes and shimmies, with comedic effect, but it is truly her voice that holds your attention.

However, there are other skills that Collis has. Her ability to strum along on the ukulele is fantastic, even when she admits that she only knows two songs. Then the moment she showcases her kazoo skills, the audience can't help but laugh. After all, a kazoo appearing in the middle of a sultry act tends to bring out a few giggles.

The bantering between Collis and her band mates kept the mood light throughout the evening, something much appreciated with her songs Winter in Munich and Make Room. Winter in Munich is an eerie piece: the piano and Collis' gentle voice belay sorrowful lyrics about journeys and leaving. Given that Collis' husband contributed to the lyrics, the thought of a couple working together on a melancholic song makes the melody even more haunting.

Make Room is a song that Collis wrote awhile back. She mentions that it makes her think of the current situation with refugees coming to Australia. With lyrics like “love is spacious,” it's not hard to see why. Several people in the audience seemed to have chills from the music, myself included.

Collis ended the night with two fantastic encores: The Germans and Pablo. One is a satirical ode to “If the Germans had won the war”; the other is a ballad for a wonderfully skilled Brazilian waxer. s

Rachel Collis and her band presented a highly diverse and wonderful show for an entire 90 minutes. Between her attitude as a jazz lounge crooner, a maniac pet owner, and a slightly unhinged human being, Collis' performance persona is both likeable and admirable.

Framed

Reviewed by Regina Su

As part of Dance Bites 2012, Framed  is a contemporary dance piece of the highest level with performers Tess de Quincey and Victoria Hunt privileging the audience with their ability to capture the essence to raw emotions. Two women are literally framed at the intersection of visual art, theatre, dance and installation.Their fusion of Japanese BodyWeather influences and Indian Natsayastra take the audience on an abstract and spiritual journey through a series of eight emotional states, depending on the audience to draw heavily on their personal introspection for meaning. The scenic space is very thoughtful stagecraft as the performers make use of a blank stage and a single frame to tell a narrative of what it means to be human through relationships and feelings. This stagecraft allows a focal point, not only demanding a spotlight on the actors, but also a spotlight on the audience, especially as each emotional state is ever so slowly released, thus causing the spectator to look within themselves and compare this visual treatise to their own life experiences.

Due to the ambiguous nature of this performance, it can indeed be said that there can be no one meaning produced and taken by the spectators; this performance is extremely unique, even eclectic in its attempt to portray raw emotions. A post-performance Q&A may reveal the motives behind many of the choices, perhaps aid in collecting one’s thoughts, as through a general discussion, audience members contribute their responses. While the lady beside me felt there was a romantic narrative at play, the combination of sound effects, tempo of movement and gesture, as well as focus on a multiplicity of fragmented emotions, meant that I understood the performance to be a compilation of snapshots, documenting a life. However, the ambiguity of the performance leaves the answer is for you to decide. Don’t miss this show at the Riverside Theatre from the 8^th-11^th of August.

Click here for more details:http://www.riversideparramatta.com.au/performance.asp?pID=1789

Supermodern - Dance of Distraction

SUPERMODERN - DANCE OF DISTRACTION – now showing at Riverside Theatre Parramatta from 28th-31st March 2012

On a bare stage in plain clothing, four dancers hypnotically extend and contort their bodies with precision and poise to a backdrop of pulsating music and a fantastic lighting display.

They appear faceless and drowned out by their own movements as well as the trance-like musical accompaniment which surrounds them. Don’t you recognise them? They are us.

SuperModern – Dance of Distraction is the brainchild of experienced teacher, director and choreographer Anton, who together with Form Dance Projects has expertly arranged a performance that embodies life in our current, highly technological society, where people and words whiz by so furiously the lines between what is natural and what is human have become blurred.

The seed of Anton’s concept was planted when he found himself in a chaotic lifestyle, dependent on phones and emails and timetables. He recognised that the rapid change of society has pulled us in a thousand different directions.

The performance starts with an ascending, monotonic chant of “while this is going on, something else is going on”, prompting you to picture your own life and question if it bears resemblance to what is on display. The dancers rarely focus on each other and while they separate and each deal with the external struggles of what is being thrust at them, they are also working and moving as one in an attempt to the absurdity of being surrounded by so much technology.

Three notable aspects of the highly skilled performance highlighted the use of mobile phones, tablets and what I interpreted as Facebook. Combining break dancing, funk and contemporary dance we are forced to consider that our dependence on these gadgets and concepts are building barriers rather than opening doors.

The use of props in this performance is outstanding, especially when making a mockery of a person using a tablet and posting photos online. The props brought humour to the performance and when coupled with sounds and speech from call centres and computers the audience were laughing at the truth behind how silly we must look, sound and feel.

The original music score was composed by Jai Pyne, Nick Wales and Timothy Constable and reminded me of the eclectic bands and DJs featured on TripleJ. If there is an album to this performance I would definitely buy it. Both the music and lighting accentuated the performance and was in perfect keeping with Anton’s concept of “pondering the pace and speed in which we communicate and multi-task while living in close quarters”.

As this piece is only showing for another three days I strongly urge you to see it. If not to support the arts culture than to challenge yourself, your ideals and question how you are living in this modern world.

We may have endless access and opportunities to maintain our incredibly busy lifestyles, but what are we really giving up? Are we becoming the machines we so heavily rely on? Is this what it now means to be human?

Reviewed by Lana Hilton
Pictures by Maylei Hunt