S/WORDS and Unfolding | Adelaide Festival 2021 review
Both works in this double bill by South Australian choreographer Lewis Major were developed in response to the pandemic.
Adelaide Festival
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S/WORDS and Unfolding
Dance / AUS
FESTIVAL
Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
Until March 14
Choreographer and creator Lewis Major grew up in south eastern South Australia but roamed the world for some years, working with and learning from many fine artists in dance and other art forms.
Again resident in SA, his work with its strong collaborative focus is steadily gaining attention.
This double bill, Unfolding and S/WORDS, can only serve to enhance his reputation.
Both works were developed during and in response to the pandemic. Unfolding seems not so much a reflection on the enforced isolation as an inquiry into what might be possible.
The first half of the piece is mesmerising, with shafts of brilliant white light – a masterly design from Fausto Brusamolino – slicing through the air, only to morph into 3D shapes that intrigue and entrance.
In a long sequence, the light appears to form a bridge, on which the dancers move with uncanny effectiveness.
In the second half, dim, warm light illuminates the dancers, in one then two pairs, to the pulse of a drum-like tattoo. This allusion to relationships and the affirmation of human connection, so fractured last year, is very affecting.
S/WORDS is a more ambitious work, with a large company that includes dancers and other artists, with a strong dramatic thrust.
The theatrical motif is overt, as the light goes up on a director apparently arguing over the creation of a show. Many of the longer and shorter episodes that follow might be scenes in a play, or chapters in a book.
Hovering about is a character who might be an actor; an artist, at any rate, waiting for a call and instead getting a rejection, one of many little deaths depicted in the piece.
Another recurring motif is the waving of a white flag. Is it a sign of surrender? Or an invitation to reconcile?
S/WORDS is exciting and intriguing, but needs a few runs to settle.
Both pieces feature impressive scores from Adelaide-based composer and sound designer James Brown.
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