Body Obscure Object certainly lived up to its title. Choreographer Shian Law won the Fringe Festival’s Best Dance award last year for his debut performance Proximate Edifice. Law and his fellow performers are all acclaimed graduates of the VCA School of Dance. Body Obscure Object was inspired in part by Brian De Palma’s 1969 film recording of Dionysus, and in his show, Law sought to explore the ‘avant-garde’ and the artifice of ‘performance.’

The audience was split in half and led to different performance areas – one a large, open stage with a projector screen hanging above it and the other a small cave with a projection on the wall. Though separate and unaware of the other’s location, the two audiences were connected via the projections, which depicted what happened in the other area while they witnessed another dance live. The audience swapped positions, and was then drawn together to watch from a seating bank.

The group dance at the end was beautiful and when more than one body was moving in tandem, Law’s fluid choreography shone. The solos were less compelling, inviting the feeling that the dancers weren’t sharing with us, but rather working through an isolated routine.

Whilst the production elements were impressive, they were also jarring, and at times overwhelmed the performance as we were bombarded with technological distractions like bright lights and set movements. The costumes were gorgeous but the changes seemed unnecessary. The final costume pieces had a beautiful, alien quality, although the costume change and style seemed like a narrative jump at odds with the progression of the piece.

Although the choreography was slick and the use of technology and spatial relationships was interesting, I didn’t really feel like I was invited in as an audience member. For me, watching dance is a very emotive experience. Body Obscure Object had moments that felt as though the performers were about to let us in, and share something, but just as quickly those moments were quashed before they happened.

Missing the key point of audience engagement made it difficult to process and respond to the work. Although I understand that Law’s intention was to highlight the artifice of performance and explore symbolic movements and ritual stripped of meaning, without an emotional draw or a narrative it was difficult to get past the feeling of detachment and alienation to connect, engage and care about what was unfolding.

I marveled at the strength, skill and precision of the dancers – they certainly have a great deal of technical skill. However, I really wanted to see how they could embody emotion. I wanted a hint of passion to give meaning to the detachment I experienced so I could understand what I was being detached from.

This work felt like an example of ‘avant-garde’ moving away from the idea that the arts are a powerful social tool toward the idea of art for art’s sake.

Body Obscure Object has finished its run at the Fringe Festival.