Pause + Diversion
Performers & Choreographers: Deanne Butterworth & Tim Harvey
Music: Duane Morrison
Developed during 2006 & 2007
Length: 25 mins
Pause + Diversion was developed over a 7 month period in Melbourne & NYC. The first showing happened in a setting whereby the audience were given the opportunity to anonymously comment on the work. Upon returning to Melbourne and taking into consideration this first audiences’ view we devised a synopsis and a critique which were given to the next audience to read before they viewed the work. These two things did not necessarily align themselves with the dance work and it was left in the hands of the audience to decide what was real and what was the farce, or both. How do you read the dance with the wrong information?
Possible Synopsis:
One person is the newly appointed secret agent. They have got themselves into a spot of bother.
OR
Clumsily executing a suspected terrorist, one person is dispatched to face off against the machine, only its not guns at ten paces but a high stakes game of hide and seek.
A Partially Constructed Critique from a Variety of Sources:
The word from the control room is,
“There is too much fluid. There is not enough fluid.”
Small wonder this contraption can only agitate us.
I like the connection without touch. However, the connection is hard to find at times and the movement is random and arbitrary. There appeared to be interesting rules for each performer. The opening was charged and I wanted that dynamic to be present for longer. Perhaps the energy in the movement died during the work. Sometimes there was so much arm movement I felt dizzy, and then other movement was jerky and choppy as though a force had taken over the bodies of the dancers. It was uncomfortable- anxiety producing music, frantic pace, and unnatural angles, at times leading to only a distant connection between characters.
The music felt creepy. It made me feel as if the dancers had no control over their own actions. There was a sense of being disturbed or disconcerted. Parts of the dance were imbued with a nonchalant strangeness in addition to much anger and possible manipulation between the characters. In some way the music neutralised the anger. It made me think how things can be taken out of context. For some reason the costumes distracted me, maybe because I was trying to understand how they relate. Why green, why did he wear stripes?
The moments of observing or noticing came only when the observer was mostly still. Sometimes I was unsure of the intention and the relationship between the two dancers, between the observer and the observed, but I think that’s okay as I’d rather it be abstract than overdramatic. Time, space, love, hate, anger, and peace- these are all thoughts that popped into my head. A slightly rougher tone is presented which is a departure from the high concept works currently being passed off as thrilling.
It maintained my interest the whole time. Although the one thing that distracted me was when the woman would walk from one spot to another, as it seemed very out of character. Lots of the other movements were dramatic and deliberate so the walking pulled me out of the movement. The male’s face reads ‘not much’. And maybe move his hair? The female face is very dramatic. But really, what is the relationship? It needs more momentum to build to a climax- but it’s interesting. The male should be executing more masculine movement if indeed he is a masculine character. Maybe the male could tie up the back of his shirt and do up his fly. The costume could have been better. Could you dance in a vintage dress and a suit?
