Contemporary Dance

A week of contemporary dance at Carriageworks this week.

Good to see the venue buzzing with life. As usual the opening night of a Performance Space dance event is well attended and as we all slowly move into the venue for the start we realise that there isn't really anywhere to sit - oops, should have paid more attention and gone in earlier.

Rosalind Crisp - Danse #1 - is a solo work with video and that newish genre of "live typing" which accompanies her as she moves around the space. So probably the bench we end up sitting on was a good choice as it was hard to tell where the action is going to take place.

It takes place on walls, on stages and on the audience floor to the backing track of her breathing, heels of audience members walking across the room, some ambient hum of the computers. Near the end there is a moment of music which is quite a relief, as the dance in silence for the majority of the work is an exercise in monotonality.

In contrast Settlement - Hans Van den Broek, a residency project is filled with dancers, props and noise. If this is a work in progress it could be quite interesting to see the next phase.

Joanne Kee
www.ceressolutions.com.au