NYX, Antony Hamilton Projects, Melbourne Festival, Thursday October 8th 2015

NYX, Antony Hamilton Projects, Melbourne Festival, Thursday October 8th 2015

"NYX" choreographed by Antony Hamilton had its World Premiere at the Meat Market in North Melbourne.  "NYX" is presented by Melbourne Festival in association with The Dancing Architects and by Antony Hamilton Projects.

I have been to all thirty of the Melbourne Festivals which began as the Spoleto Festival of Three Worlds and morphed into MIFA Melbourne Internal Arts Festival) and is now just the Melbourne Festival.  Historically it was great to be able to see a huge journey of dance history when Alwin Nikolais Dance Company performed in 1986.  He was famous for his combination of light and costumes with dance.  Here tonight we saw a company provide a physical manifestation of percussion and dance.

We enter the theatre and the show begins ten minutes late.  Historically NOT ONE show in thirty years has begun on time.

There is a temple like structure lit centre stage.  We have no idea of how deep the staging area will become as it is black beyond.

Four dancers stand far upstage in black: silhouetted and all with flowing long hair.  Stillness for at least thirty seconds to get our attention.  Slowly the humming begins, and the moaning.  Gentle swaying reminiscent of Brian Friel's play "Dancing at Lughnasa"  He died recently and the finale of his beautiful play with the gentle swaying still makes my heart soar.  So to be reminded of this beautiful memory within five minutes was encouraging.

Though I found we had five minute blocks of choreography or percussive movement in each of the following sections.

The next five minute sequence was messing up the temple like structure.  It was interesting to see the sliding of ceramic and stone or pebbles into different directions.  (I admire the dedication of the production crew to recreate this temple before each performance.)  The rhythms created by the sliding of items was primitive and destructive.  Where was this heading?  Were they to going to rebuild a new civilisation?  They had my attention but I found the five minute segments a little predictable.

We had about five minutes of tapping rhythms using the ceramics, sticks and pebbles.  I call this the Banking Section as they banked their stash of pebbles/stones away.  The reaching forward by the four dancers, two by two was a little like Noah's Ark and filling the urns with the pebbles or stones.  This is where I admired the dancers' skills the most, as they had to reach forward to gather the stones and drop them into the large urns creating a pulsating rhythm.  They not only had to visually calculate where their stones were but they also had to be aware of the other dancer's supply of pebbles.  This was terrific team work and concentration.

Sadly we had a mobile phone interruption with the rude woman's light on her phone.  Later this was followed by the percussive hum and vibration of two other phones.  TURN THEM OFF!  Do not turn them to silent because they are not silent.

There was another group of eight dancers who dressed with half their faces covered.  They reminded me of the "Samurai" television show from the 1960s.  They slowly entered and reminded me of a section from "Flowers" by Lindsay Kemp.

The four dancers in black used their hair as an extension of their bodies.  Their hair twirled and flowed with their movements.  It was most effect when the four were bent forward upstage in silhouette and looked like horses galloping in the distance.  This was one of the strongest images and I longed for more of these moments.

A group of eight upstage were sitting and created a thirty count round of percussive movement and rhythm.  They gradually increased their speed and eventually we had a break-a-way group creating a counter rhythm.  It was like a canon with this second group gradually taking over the rhythm of the original theme.  Eventually all finished with this new sequence.  This was my favourite part of the work and reminded me of the subtle musical transitions of Philip Glass.  Congratulations to this group of eight as my heart soared with your synchronisation and timing.  Again this was one of the strongest moments and I longed for more.  It was my favourite section.

We had the obligatory contemporary dance rolling around sequence.  This resulted in one of the few funny moments of the production.  The four dancers in black finished in various poses with their hair as the centre piece.  Some had their hair in a foot or hands etc.  They then proceeded into a laughing sequence and then changed positions for a sobbing or a crying sequence.  I enjoyed the contrast of their positions and sounds.  Again a strong image and I longed for more of these moments.

The other quick laugh was when the four in black were on their knees as if in a tantrum chanting "Naughty girl".

Another section, I will call  The Robot or Machine Parade sequence was led by a dancer in black on an upside down flower pot.  She pushed this forward and the three behind followed in various guises.  They chanted and created rhythms and various sounds. The images were like a Year 11 drama exercise, though the use of percussion with their bodies was the saving grace.

The supporting eight dancers created a congo line type sequence with their farcical entrances and exits in either a line of eight or four.  The upstage shuffling group of four was in contrast to the eight downstage, as if they had travelled on a long journey.  A simple and effective image through a thin curtain.

The rest of the production blurred with more variations of rhythms, tapping with bodies and sticks and more chanting.

The final sequence was a burial type ritual and could have been from the Aztec, Inca or the ancient Egyptian cultures. It was the placing of the objects around the body of one of the dancers. This sequence concluded with the three remaining dancers crawling away respectfully allowing their colleague to rest in peace.

Each year some reviewers have their favourite word in their reviews.  We have had various reviewers throughout the years over-use their favourite word or phrase.  Some examples include visceral, surreal or the cavernous stage.   To me the word for this production is sonorous -  for the various sound qualities produced by the dancers, and for the sound of snoring which this production could have done had it gone on any longer.

Lighting by Benjamin Cisterne was effective in this large space.  I especially liked the use of sillouette and the upward lighting of the ceiling.

Costume design by Paula Levis was most effective for the eight dancers.  The black leotards were effective for the silhouettes.  The tights on two of the four dancers were ripped by the end of the performance.  Not hardy enough for good costume design for this choreography I am afraid!

I longed for more of theses memorable moments.  "NYX" is a promising work with physical manifestation of percussion and dance.

Overall my partner gave this a 4/10 and I was a bit more generous with a 6/10.

Friday Oct 9th 2015:

PS:  I had to laugh when I read The Age article today as I knew someone would use the term "cavernous spaces of the Meat Market" and they did!