Right and Left, Beckett Theatre, Melbourne Festival, Friday October 16th 2015

Right and Left, Beckett Theatre, Melbourne Festival, Friday October 16th 2015

"Right and Left" is a dance work by choreographer Gu Jiani for the Melbourne Festival    This was a part of the Special Combination workshop which was an invitation only event that was facilitated by Gideon Obarzanek.

We attended the 7.30 pm performance on Friday October 16th 2015 at The Beckett Theatre at The Coopers Malthouse.

For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre.  So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights.  Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases.

I am writing this review from my notes nearly two weeks after the event but still have the same impression.

There were no programmes available.  The performance began at 7.06pm.

There was a large table stage left that was off balance and seemed to be hanging from the back wall.

There were two dancers Gu Jiani and Li Nan with video art by Ping.

I recall the following sections:

1. Shadows
2. Stools
3. Strangulation
4. Solo
5. Sillouettes and shadows (more of the same!)
6. Duets (which I called Suets to keep the "S" theme!)
7. Silence and more silence.  Stillness.  (The lady was on the left)
8. The table was moved.

The choreography was quite pedestrian and did not push the boundaries except for the Stool section. This Stool section was inventive using a stool as a third dancer in a pas de trois.  The stool was not only sat upon but slid between, lifted, hung from, worn, and crawled through.  Such inventive choreography that sadly was not replicated with the table section.

The audience was too close and the sight lines were only optimum for the first row.  I watched people in the second and third rows craning to view what was within reach of the front row.  The front of the stage should have been pushed back by at least a 1.5 metres for those past the third row to see what was happening downstage.  (That means those in rows C, D, E had limited views of the front of the stage!)

There were eight empty seats in Rows D and E.  Thankfully the ushers used some common sense and offered these to patrons who were in the upper section of the theatre.

The Strangulation section was engaging as the danger of manipulating another person's head can be very uncomfortable viewing.

When the table was moved away from the back wall the dancers played around with it.  They slid the table and hung from its legs and moved with it.  There were so many wonderful moments of dancing with the stool and sadly dancing with the table was not as inventive.  Maybe they ran out of time.

The most exciting part was the bows.  The dancers had the deepest bows and gratitude for the audience.  I wish more performers would take such considered bows.  Plus many performers could learn to command their space from these young performers - not only for their bows but their presence.

This is a work in progress.

Overall I gave this a 5/10.