Photo by Lorna Sim
Brutalist architecture, industrial landscapes and site-specific performance are a few of my favourite things. Ticking all these boxes and more, this show was a seamless blending of place and art.This site-specific dance work is named for the space in
which its set. ‘LESS’ is a monumental architectural sculpture consisting of 36 square, concrete columns with a
circular ramp and viewing platform.
Standing tall at the top of a gentle slope, quiet water flows
across square, concrete levels at its base and into a newly landscaped
watercourse and park below.
The crowd gathered around sunset beneath skies that had
mercifully cleared after a
wet week. The sculpture and park run alongside
design studios and hospitality businesses and the space was active with people
out on a Friday.
Some audience members sat on small stools with their feet in
shallow water and others watched from the ramp.
As light faded the dancers entered the space, walking up
through the watercourse in Butoh style, in stunning white and grey costumes by Aislinn
King.
The ‘LESS’ program describes ‘a place that conjures images
of ancient and future civilisations’. This opening number was like a timeless,
high ritual.
Light and sound brought the performance into focus. Water
flowed around all our feet connecting us together as the columns loomed behind
the dancers.
Then in a swift and uplifting transition, the dance became exuberant
with the sounds of splashing water and a sense of irreverent fun breaking the
ritual’s spell.
Over the 40 minute show, the space was explored through
dance, light and sound. Other numbers evoked gaming and pop culture references,
the frightening and the playful.
A saxophonist and a vocalist preformed with the dancers,
working in stunning collaboration.
Dynamic AV’s lighting was beautifully minimal, creating
atmosphere and drama and never distracting from the performers.
The performers showed an incredible array of dance, circus
and gymnastics skills and every movement seemed to respond directly to the
space.
Australian dance party’s ‘LESS’ is part of Canberra’s
well-loved Enlighten Festival. In a semi-industrial area on Dairy Flat Road,
it’s a long way both physically and conceptually from the flashy animations and
noodle markets in the parliamentary triangle that we think of as Enlighten, and
a beautiful way to activate a new space in Canberra.