The Golden Record The Typewriters
The Dying Small Danai Pappa
Elvis I Love You Katia Lom
There was nary a man onstage tonight, although the voice and mystique of one hugely famous male permeated the finale. But first things first. Roberta Vaz's The Golden Record was like a live-installation version of a low-budget sci-fi horror film as directed by Tarkovsky, only minus his broader vision. Wide-eyed, metallic-skinned Raquel Claudino made a convincingly robotic space traveler uncovering Lorraine Smith and Sonja Bruhlmann's forgotten Brides of Frankenstein. Although Vaz juggled good ideas and promising themes - questions about cultural memory, communication, touch, reproduction - this drawn-out mimetic performance seemed capable of keeping only one ball in the air at a time. To engage us more deeply it needed to push itself further.
The dramatic engine of Danai Pappa's The Dying Small wasn't just idling, it was stalled. Red-lipped in white tights, dresses and winter hats, Pappa and Ionia Dakou fussed about in a space bare save for two pale plastic buckets. They hugged, screamed and jumped, loped (or ran) in circles. ‘Funny' walks and twiddly fingers also featured among other meaningless quirks. Supposedly Pappa had something to say about mortality and bereavement. But did the empty absurdities littering this vaguely irritating piece tell me anything about being alive? Scarcely. And what was at stake? Not much that I could discern. Afterwards I wanted to slap it.
In Elvis I Love You, Katia Lom wrapped a cool intelligence round a pop icon who, were he alive, would've turned 75 last week. Her indirect but enquiring tribute was filtered through the rapturously aroused sensibilities of five bare-legged, white-knickered young things in short puffy skirts. Imagine Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker having a pink-toned fever-dream about The King in his youthful heyday and you'll have an inkling. Lom might've gone further, too, and yet her restraint was well balanced against a soundtrack of Presley talking and delivering two equally sexy renditions (mid-50s and '68) of Trying to Get to You. Clever, too, to intermittently turn him into an uneven white lace tablecloth. That's no joke. What's more, it worked.
Donald Hutera
The Golden Record was an ambitious work with promising ideas, but didn't quite get there. In a dream-like atmosphere with low-lighting, tables made out of boxes, plastic sheets and gloves littered on the ground, the piece saw humans in robotic movement going about everyday tasks like eating, while the alien charmingly interrupted them. I'd expect the post apocalyptic-world to be a bit nastier. Choreographer Roberto Vaz worked with some interesting notions, including memory, reproduction and connection, but they were never fully developed and lacked connection. Mime and puppetry took center-stage, but I wanted more dance.
The Dying Small started out well; a dancer moving to Chopin, with twists, turns and small surprises. The second dancer joins, and throughout the rest of the piece they go on to be playful, screaming and dancing. Dancers Tonia Dakou and Danai Pappa were well-matched and capable, and executed the choreography with fantastic timing. However, the movement was empty and ultimately became frustrating. There was none of the emotional intensity one would expect from exploring mortality and bereavement, or of the Dying Swan solo which inspired the piece. If there was a struggle, I couldn't see it.
Katia Lom's Elvis I Love You opens to an empty spotlight on stage and Elvis Presley's iconic voice crooning Love Me Tender; a fitting homage to the King of rock and roll. Enter five dancers in short ruffled dresses in pastel colours reminiscent of the Southern belles of Elvis' birthplace. When the dancers move, it's all femininity, evoking images of infatuated young girls dancing dreamily to Elvis' music. At one memorable point, Lom pays tribute to the King with movement that begins at the hips but then finishes in her own style. The piece was nicely paced and engaging, but sometimes bordered on being a bit too fluffy. Slightly more obvious passion would have been useful to drive the movement and set a more definite personality on the work.
Jobina Bardai
The Typewriters 'The Golden Record'
Danai Pappa 'The Dying Small'
Katia Lom 'Elvis I Love You'