Dance
By STRUT Dance
Riverview Hotel
21st February 2015
Review by Michael Nield

Three choreographic teams take over Perth’s Riverview Hotel in this co-produced dance piece making its debut at Fringe World. Built around the parking lot, a hotel room and the lobby this dance work employs three choreographic teams to inhabit and revolutionise the heart of this contemporary hotel.

Imagio-Mio the first of the three works inhabits the front bar and lobby. The elegant and controlled movements of Rachel Arianne Ogle juxtaposed with the dishevelled Timothy Ohl establish characters that set the scene for a transformation reminiscent of My Fair Lady. With inverted lifts, hammers, torches, and underwear the audience was enthralled as Ogle transformed Ohl and the two were united in an elegant duet. Paul Selwyn Norton did well to choreograph characters and a journey that owned and belonged to this otherwise ordinary public space.

Gabrielle Nankivell’s Suite Secret utilised the kitchenette and bedroom of a small hotel apartment to explore the memories and shadows of the transient’s hotel room. From the teetering madness of midlife crisis to the fear and excitement of sleeping in a dark strange room, this piece used movement, sensory deprivation, confinement and poetry to submerge spectators in an alien and intriguing world. Nankivell was delightful to watch, her use of space, movement, light and sound was beautiful and subtle.

The final piece (Untitled) saw Lucas Marie and Nicole Ward would hash out their simultaneous urban anonymity and high density intimacy. In a departure from the stereotypically controlled movements of dance, the wild and alien gestures of misunderstood passion made for two sorry and mournful characters. Antony Hamilton’s piece was the sparsest of the evening and the exploration of voice space left much to be desired. Losing meaning lead to losing interest and the repetition grew old half way through the piece.

Mi Casa es Su Casa is a stunning example of site specific performance, each team draws out aspects of their space and inhabits them with characters that bring the Riverview Hotel to life. Thought provoking, interesting and challenging Mi Casa es Su Casa was certainly a Fringe World highlight.

Mi Casa es Su Casa has finished its run as Fringe finishes tonight.
For more information on the performance that was see the Fringe website here.