Laying Down Bone/Bringing Up Brain

Another Fringe review for artshub 

http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/laying-down-bone-bringing-up-brain-185852?sc=1

We choose how we live in our bodies – a healthy body remains able to respond – responsible.” - Andrea Olsen, Body Stories
Meet ‘Elvis the Pelvis’ (an articulated male spine and pelvis) and ‘Priscilla’ (a skull). Enter the world of Laying Down Bone (Bringing Up Brain), an exciting one woman show by Angela Hill and a combination of anatomy lesson, dance and autobiography presented as part of the Sydney Fringe. Hill, an award winning choreographer and performer, has taught dance and created works for the past 17 years, performing in both Sydney and the USA.
Laying Down Bone (Bringing Up Brain) is based on events in Hill’s life and current research in the fields of neurobiology, attachment theory and the effects of trauma and loss on the human body. In the style of a TED talk it looks at the mind-body connection between trauma, loss and human development.
In a white top and red, three-quarter length, flared skirt-like pants, Hill probes both the terrible traumas within her family history and the very beginning of existence: bone and brain formation in the womb.
For one section, in which Hill strips down to her underwear, computer aided analysis of her movement is shown as she discusses it. There are also computer images of the forming of a fetus, and of giving birth – echoed in Hills’ choreography at that point of the show, where she depicts a baby exiting the womb, learning to crawl/walk etc.
Hill’s choreography at times includes runs (as echoed in the CGI) and a headstand. Her smooth, fluid movement seems heavily weighted, Graham-like (there is lots of floorwork) and grounded; and also features the wonderful use of a very flexible back.
The show is also very painfully autobiographical and revealing. We learn about the history of suicides and deaths in her family – at least partly caused by genes? Yet Hill has to remain clinically detached. This leads to the discussion of genetics and attachment theory. “An elephant never forgets” – and has roughly the same brain structure as we humans, we are informed.
There are Hamlet quotes, and Priscilla the skull is passed around the audience for inspection while Hill talks. Elsewhere, she performs an intimate, quite jaunty and jazzy pas de deux with Elvis, dangling him from her hand, draping him lovingly around her shoulder, cradling him like a baby, and explaining how we can tell he is male.
Andre Hayhter’s computer graphics, as for example in Chunky Move performances, are an extremely important part of the show. Speech is featured, including various quotes about the body, reinforcing the dance from a medical/health perspective as well as an analysis of how the body physically moves in space.
A fascinating, intimately revealing show that breaks down the barriers between dance and medicine.
Rating: Four stars
Laying Down Bone (Bringing Up Brain)
Created and performed by Angela Hill
Sound and visuals by Andre Hayter
Running time: 40 minutes (approx), no interval
The Newtown Theatre, Newtown
Sept 22 – 24
The Sydney Fringe
September 9 – October 2