DANCE

Edited By Caroline Melia

Away from the obvious at The Garden exists the Fringe’s Dance program. Here are our top six picks.

Back of the Bus                        Dance Pad Flash Mob

Dark Park                                 Rip Drag Ruminate

Unspoken Languages               Wyrd…With Grace

Back of the Bus

Pick up point: Venue*Tix Outlet & Adelaide Town Hall

24 Feb – 11 March (ex 5 Mar)

New Zealand based Java Dance company presents this site-specific show, as the name implies, in the back of a bus.

Dancers will perform their routines during this bus ride around Adelaide. They combine physical comedy with an exciting and dynamic dance show that is accessible to all.

The enclosed confines of the setting bring the spectators closer to the action both on and off the bus, allowing the audiences to get to know the hidden depths of the characters depicted over the course of the show.

Along with the Fringe Festival’s own bus ‘Tour of the Unexpected’, there is an emphasis on how mundane places can be used and experienced in new and surprising ways. The choreographer Sacha Copland describes getting inspiration from the street music on the French subway system and how travelling lets you see familiar things in new, surprising ways. Though performing for the first time in Adelaide, the show has been a sell-out success in its home county of New Zealand and hopes to give audiences at the Fringe a fresh new look at their home city.

The tickets for this show are limited to the capacity of the bus, so book well in advance to avoid being left on the kerb.

Dance Pad Flash Mob

The Dance Pad

25 Feb at 2pm 27 Feb and 1 March at 6.30pm

The internet craze of flash mobs comes to the Fringe Festival with the opportunity for you to be part of the action. The dance routines will be rehearsed prior to the flash mob, and will be suitable for all ages and abilities. This range also helps the flash mob fit it with the surroundings. The locations will be revealed at the rehearsal workshops, but remember not to go telling too many of your friends as the whole idea is that the audience are the ones surprised. Don’t take part if you don’t like being the centre of attention, but this is the perfect opportunity to claim a small part of performing at the Fringe Festival.

The price of the ticket is redeemable for a dance classes so if you find you’re feet keep tapping, head along to one of the street dance classes held by The Dance Pad.

Dark Park

Adelaide College of the Arts- DK Studio

2-4 March at 7.30pm

Somewhere between dance and theatre, Dark Park has clearly been hard to categorise in terms of genre. Evoking images of that classic fairytale featuring a wolf and a girl, this show also cites influences from film noir, David Lynch and writer Angela Carter, whose work ‘The Company of Wolves’ was adapted into a film. It’s always interesting to see how fairy tales are applied to situations well beyond childhood. This dance piece places us directly into a story of survival and escape in a surreal world of nightmares. Expect something a little darker than usual.

This is the solo performance of Kelly Alexander, a young choreographer who trained in Adelaide and Melbourne and has had extensive experience with numerous dance companies.

Rip Drag Ruminate

Adelaide College of the Arts

2-5 March

This is the culmination of three years of training, teaching and performing, Adelaide College of Arts presents a new dance work for this year’s Fringe Festival season from the best of Adelaide’s graduating year. If you’re always keen to see something new and fresh, this is a opportunity to see the future performers of the dance world. The College of Arts has already produced performers of professional quality with one of their 2010 graduates taking part in last year’s festival.  It’s a chance to see local young talent; clearly the ones to watch.

Unspoken Languages

Queens Theatre 1

15-17 March

This cross art forms experiment combining improvised jazz, abstract painting and three dancers, gives us an exciting glimpse into the creative mind. Drawing parallels between different art forms and with an audience guided second half, this show will be a different experience every night. There is also the chance to take some of the evening home with you, as you can purchase the painting created during the show after the event.

Perhaps the idea of impromptu dance and jazz music isn’t for everyone. But there is a certain curiosity in seeing how something as eclectic as this can work as a dance show.

Wyrd… With Grace

Holden Street Theatres – The Studio

13-15 March

After a very successful season at the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2011, Wyrd… with grace will be performed in the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2012 at Holden Street Theatres.

The choreographer and dancer is emerging artist, Alexandra Knox. After completing a Bachelor of Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts she has danced with Meryl Tankard, Phillip Adams, Stephanie Lake, Rebecca Hilton, Elizabeth Dalman and Liz Lea. Alexandra has recently been mentored by choreographer Leigh Warren of Leigh Warren and Dancers who has described the work as “beautiful, just beautiful.”

Wyrd works within choreographed and improvised scores and structures. The performance will explore the pathways of transformation and empowerment that we can take to play a hand in weaving our own fate. Amongst those collaborating with Alex is Melboure based visual artist / film maker Cy Gorman, who has also worked for Chunky Move.

Of the work, Alexandra says, “I am passionate about creating imaginative and original work that expresses an emotional tenderness and vulnerability but is yet striking to watch. I believe it is important to really embody and explore all the intricacies of your art form, love what you do and express this onstage.”

Wyrd is very likely to be one of the sleepers of the Fringe program that will come to surprise you.

Click here to see the promotional video

On a relatively small stage space, the five dancers work in various combinations. The show opened with ‘Exurgency’, which was an impressive piece, exhibiting the dancers’ physicality well – though it was sometimes difficult to see the floor work because of the stage set-up. Following this there was an odd two person piece, which seemed to revolve around a couple falling in and out of love. This was the only piece of the show that had not been choreographed in the preceding year and its inclusion seemed out of place. The fact that it was choreographed by the chair of the school may go some way to explaining its presence.

‘The V Files Medley’ had a very tribal feel to it and featured notable solos from several of the dancers. ‘Prelude, Fugue, Postlude’ incorporated more classical dance moves, while still being decidedly contemporary. The only solo piece of the show was ‘Swan Homage’ which was a short and interesting dance, incorporating various pieces of music from very different genres. The final piece of the show ‘Baeke’s Land’ was an exploration of the impact of plastic on humans. While this was a powerful piece and suited the theme well, the music was incredibly grating and several people were forced to cover their ears from discomfort. This sound design may have contributed to the point being made, but it seemed an odd way to close a show.

This show included several quality contemporary dance pieces and the performers did a good job, however, overall the pieces seemed a little disjointed and the transition from one to the other, awkward.

Kryztoff Rating: 3K

See all Kryztoff’s previews at www.kryztoff.com and all our reviews here at www.kryztoff.com/RAW and remember also to subscribe for Adelaide’s most up to date reviews. To win free tix, join us also on Facebook and Twitter.

To see reviews of shows not covered by Kryztoff go to BankSA Talkfringe at www.talkfringe.com.au.

This show is electrifying, it’ll take your breath away and send you on an exotic vacation to the heart of Spain, where the intoxicating rhythm of the feet, hands and gentle serenade of a trio of Spanish guitarists will take you on journey. For those who love dance, this will be right up your alley, and for those that don’t there is plenty to love about this show. The synchronicity of the guitars and the stomp of the feet is incredible – it’s seamless and effortless. The show is set in Nexus Cabaret, which has a unique Spanish feel, which set the scene for the show. Round tables, a long bar across the back and an intimate stage area. All that’s missing is Spanish tapas!

With three guitarists and a traditional sounding Spanish female singer the mood is set as the show begins with a group of four highly skilled dancers from the Flamenco Dance Areti academy. The star of the show is Fernando Mira, his talent is impeccable as his moves create a hypnotizing beat. Kieren Ray & Alain Valodze, two special guests on guitar, certainly deliver and add value to the show.

Overall this show is culture-rich, you will feel like you’re actually in Spain however all these talented artists are actually from Adelaide. It’s a feel good show, you’ll leave feeling inspired and amazed, plus the juxtaposition of the sharpness of the foot stomps and the softness of the hand movements resonates. Flamenco Puro is just that, pure flamenco created by artists with pure talent.

Kryztoff Rating  5K

See all Kryztoff’s previews at www.kryztoff.com and all our reviews here at www.kryztoff.com/RAW and remember also to subscribe for Adelaide’s most up to date reviews. To win free tix, join us also on Facebook and Twitter.

To see reviews of shows not covered by Kryztoff go to BankSA Talkfringe at www.talkfringe.com.au.

The Min Min light, a natural phenomenon, appears over a community and they become entranced by its presence. Min Min is performed by an amalgamation of dance groups, the Kurruru Performing Youth Arts company and the Tal-Kin-Jeri dance group. They used contemporary dance guided by Teachings from the Dreamings to create their performance. The two dance groups had different roles onstage to tell this story together. It was lovely to watch the flowing movements of the dancers from Kurruru. Wearing pretty pastels, they gave the feeling of innocence and added to the mystery of the story. Led by Major Sumner, the Tal-Kin-Jeri performers sang and danced their part of the story in body paint and woven grass belts. This contrast worked well, as it visually separated the traditional aspects of the story from the dance.

On this journey, we stumbled across the Mulyewongk, the Ngarrindjeri people’s name for the Murray River bunyip. This dancer was very convincing, mutating his body into grotesque forms and scaring the schoolgirls in the front row.

It is always enjoyable to go to a performance at Tandanya. You get to soak in the latest Indigenous art exhibition and have a chat with the people there before taking your seat for the show. It felt really good to support a local act such as this.

Kryztoff Rating 3K

See all Kryztoff’s previews at www.kryztoff.com and all our reviews here at www.kryztoff.com/RAW and remember also to subscribe for Adelaide’s most up to date reviews. To win free tix, join us also on Facebook and Twitter.

To see reviews of shows not covered by Kryztoff go to BankSA Talkfringe at www.talkfringe.com.au.