| Set during rush hour, Underground is a place of crowded
isolation, familiar yet strange. It’s a world where commuters slip between
mundane reality and a vivid and surreal dream world – disconnected from each
other, yet capable of great compassion and tenderness. Routine patterns of the
commuter blur as time stops and boredom is replaced with spontaneous action.
Shifting from darkly moody to
hilariously funny to terrifyingly athletic, six talented young performers
explore the landscape of an underground station. This is dance theatre at its
explosive best, driven by the gutsy choreography of Dancenorth’s Artistic
Director, Gavin Webber. Undergound features a blistering score designed
by Luke Smiles, turning it up with Nick
Cave, Nine Inch Nails and
Messer Chups.
Gavin states "Underground
deals with the kind of alienation that occurs in large cities, where someone
can collapse in the street just to have people step over them. I am interested
in what motivates people's choice to assist or to ignore someone in distress.
Is it just a lack of identification with that person, or something deeper in
the human condition? Underground
pursues a physical vocabulary of risk that exposes the need to protect and help
another."
Dancenorth
produces and presents works of
original contemporary dance theatre for regional, national and international
audiences. Webber’s choreographic style has a distinctive and dynamic
technical vocabulary. Described as ‘athletic, raw and with an edge of the
unexpected’, his style challenges and surprises audiences, taking them in
unexpected directions.
“Fast, dangerous, quirky but
with a core of almost angry sadness.” (Courier Mail)
Artistic Team: Direction: Gavin Webber,
Choreography: Gavin Webber and dancers, Rehearsal Direction: Michelle Ryan, Lighting Design: Jo
Currey, Sound Design: Luke Smiles
Performers: Alice Hinde, Charmene Yap, Hsin-Ju Chiu, Joshua Thomson, Kate Harman,
Kyle Page
Warning: Strobe lighting is used in this show
2008 National Tour Dates
Brisbane 8 – 11 October
Lismore 14 – 15
October
Bathurst 18 October
Sydney
22 October – 1 November
Hobart 5 – 8 November
Melbourne 12 – 16 November
Perth 19 – 29 November
|