No Cold Feet

hi
here's what I said on artshub
http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/no-cold-feet-185964?sc=1

A dazzled, puzzled audience braved the cold (fortunately it was not raining) for this outdoor, site specific performance that draws not only on the trademark ‘Body Weather’/Butoh De Quincey Company style, but also modern dance and Italian street theatre.
For about half of the performance we were seated directly opposite the beautiful St Mary’s Cathedral, which became an elegant backdrop to this fascinating performance (with the sun going down the backdrop was truly stunning – almost a Manet painting). Heavy duty portable stage lights were manipulated by the unobtrusive stage crew. The cast entered in procession out into the cobblestoned courtyard, wearing what appeared to be liturgical robes with a Ballets Russes influence and holding long flexible orange poles. All wore exaggerated white plastic breast plates and mismatched shoes (one a heavy boot, the other a sandal).
They clambered up and down the steps in various formations, the poles held in kabuki-like poses, wiggled, waved, wobbled...
The sound of the poles in the wind, thwacked against the ground, or whirled above the head like a bullroarer (or sword?) created a great sense of presence. For the final part of this section the dancers performed behind us on the steps where most of the audience was sitting, forcing us to turn around and watch. They stalked, posed, performed strange, repeated, isolated phrases of movement and interacted almost threateningly with the audience.
Squawking cockatoos and sacred ibises flew and stalked around us, and unsuspecting and unaware members of the general public also become performers as the dancers echoed, emphasised, and became part of the environment.
Next the audience followed the cast to the water pool, where – with excellent timing as the church bells rang – the cast formed a strange procession: sometimes like catwalk models posing, at other times viciously fighting, later collapsing laughing (at us? at themselves? at the world?). Here were saw individual phrases of repeated movements, echoed by the water of the fountain as it was turned on and off. The water was almost a performer in itself, impeccably timed, and the reflections were fabulous. The long orange poles were tossed into the water – allegorically spearing fish? Then came an odd solo for one of the female dancers, as if she was going slightly mad. The whole section of the work at this point has a slightly sci-fi, Dr Frank-n-Furter feel about it.
The final, elegiac section of the work was performed on the steps near the bike rack and then at the back of the building with the cast vanishing into the trees at the end. For some of this section they were frozen, Butoh-like tableaux: at one point they held their costumes high, waving them, before slipping them on, at which point the costumes became 18th century dresses and the dancers the ghosts of Rococo nymphs to the strains of the ‘Songs of the Auvergne’.
A strange, haunting, challenging and exciting event well worth braving the elements for.
Rating: Four stars
No Cold Feet
De Quincy Co
Choreography: Tess de Quincey
Dancers: Peter Fraser, Linda Luke, Vicki Van Hoot, Kathryn Pie, Katina Olsen, Mark Hill, Kristy Kilo and Gideon Paten-Griffiths
Sound Composition: Barbara Clare and Steve Tooling
Costume Design: Albert Baldwin
Lighting Design: Rachel Smith
Flag Installation: John Gillis
Running time: One hour (approx)
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
A dazzled, puzzled audience braved the cold (fortunately it was not raining) for this outdoor, site specific performance that draws not only on the trademark ‘Body Weather’/Butoh De Quincey Company style, but also modern dance and Italian street theatre.
For about half of the performance we were seated directly opposite the beautiful St Mary’s Cathedral, which became an elegant backdrop to this fascinating performance (with the sun going down the backdrop was truly stunning – almost a Manet painting). Heavy duty portable stage lights were manipulated by the unobtrusive stage crew. The cast entered in procession out into the cobblestoned courtyard, wearing what appeared to be liturgical robes with a Ballets Russes influence and holding long flexible orange poles. All wore exaggerated white plastic breast plates and mismatched shoes (one a heavy boot, the other a sandal).
They clambered up and down the steps in various formations, the poles held in kabuki-like poses, wiggled, waved, wobbled...
The sound of the poles in the wind, thwacked against the ground, or whirled above the head like a bullroarer (or sword?) created a great sense of presence. For the final part of this section the dancers performed behind us on the steps where most of the audience was sitting, forcing us to turn around and watch. They stalked, posed, performed strange, repeated, isolated phrases of movement and interacted almost threateningly with the audience.
Squawking cockatoos and sacred ibises flew and stalked around us, and unsuspecting and unaware members of the general public also become performers as the dancers echoed, emphasised, and became part of the environment.
Next the audience followed the cast to the water pool, where – with excellent timing as the church bells rang – the cast formed a strange procession: sometimes like catwalk models posing, at other times viciously fighting, later collapsing laughing (at us? at themselves? at the world?). Here were saw individual phrases of repeated movements, echoed by the water of the fountain as it was turned on and off. The water was almost a performer in itself, impeccably timed, and the reflections were fabulous. The long orange poles were tossed into the water – allegorically spearing fish? Then came an odd solo for one of the female dancers, as if she was going slightly mad. The whole section of the work at this point has a slightly sci-fi, Dr Frank-n-Furter feel about it.
The final, elegiac section of the work was performed on the steps near the bike rack and then at the back of the building with the cast vanishing into the trees at the end. For some of this section they were frozen, Butoh-like tableaux: at one point they held their costumes high, waving them, before slipping them on, at which point the costumes became 18th century dresses and the dancers the ghosts of Rococo nymphs to the strains of the ‘Songs of the Auvergne’.
A strange, haunting, challenging and exciting event well worth braving the elements for.
Rating: Four stars
No Cold Feet
De Quincy Co
Choreography: Tess de Quincey
Dancers: Peter Fraser, Linda Luke, Vicki Van Hoot, Kathryn Pie, Katina Olsen, Mark Hill, Kristy Kilo and Gideon Paten-Griffiths
Sound Composition: Barbara Clare and Steve Tooling
Costume Design: Albert Baldwin
Lighting Design: Rachel Smith
Flag Installation: John Gillis
Running time: One hour (approx)
St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney