MY SIGHT – THEIR SIGHT
BATS Theatre, The Heyday Dome, 1 Kent Tce, Wellington
31/07/2018 - 04/08/2018
Production Details
Three performers: Three blindfolds. What is possible?
★★★★ “This trio blew past normal acrobatics, in an impressive show of dance, strength and acrobatics… with one catch – there were blindfolds.” Amy Kapernick – fringefeed.com.au
My Sight – Their Sight challenges three artists to perform with and without their vision. This award-winning company uses dance and circus to explore trust and power shifts as they navigate a changing space.
Winner of Best Emerging Producer – Melbourne Fringe Festival 2017, Blindful is a creative outlet and artistic venture. It comes from being curious about highly physical disciplines and about sight. It is focused around eyesight and vision or it could be purely circus or dance. Blindful represents making dance and circus accessible to anyone and everyone, entertaining those with disabilities and educating those without.
The company was created in 2015 in Belfast with support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and continues to work with all arts disciplines and is now based in Melbourne. Artistic Director, Abbie Madden, a dancer originally from Adelaide whose interest in dance and sight comes from being born with congenital glaucoma and living with the other conditions it resulted in.
BATS Theatre, the Heyday Dome
31 July – 4 August
at 6:30pm
Full Price $20
Concession Price $15
Group 6+ $14
BOOK TICKETS
Accessibility
*Access to The Heyday Dome is via stairs, so please contact the BATS Box Office at least 24 hours in advance if you have accessibility requirements so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Read more about accessibility at BATS.
Dance , Circus ,
Friendship, struggle and solidarity
Review by Lyne Pringle 01st Aug 2018
Three acrobatic mates from Melbourne bring this sweet little show to Bats Theatre. It is about friendship and sight, taking solidarity with those who struggle with disability, about supporting and looking out for each other, about celebrating what can be seen, about stopping and resetting when you run out of space, about the skill and persistence that leads to marvelous physical feats.
The team are Abbie Madden – Artistic Director / performer, Ryan Darwin – creator / performer and Romain Hassanin – creator / performer, together they are the Blindful Troupe which originated in Belfast before moving to Melbourne.
Running in the dark to begin with, the show has a playful edge as they are caught ‘frozen in the headlights’. The perfomers bring an earnest and straightforward presence to the stage, approaching the simple choreography with gusto. Bodies are hurtled through the space in chunky movement, sliding, rolling, bouncing – circus bodies doing pared down contemporary dance laced with breakdance variations and capoeira type moves. The unison sections could do with some nuance through counterpoint and canon.
Blindfolds are taken on and off adding an element of difficulty and risk to stock acrobatic tricks such as standing on shoulders. The concentration required in this compromised state is palpable and compelling.
Each performer delivers a blindfolded solo which shows off their particular skills – Madden a writhing, floor-based exploration. She moves with a unique grace.
One of the males (there is no programme so we are not able to distinguish between the two men) delivers an impressive solo on a corde lisse. He shimmies monkey-like with the rope between his toes, then twists and turns with incredible ease and strength, navigating the space between roof and floor by touch. A blindfolded Icarus framed against the dome of the Propellor stage – the highlight of the evening.
The second male lets rip in a solo full of innovative break-dance type moves as he is guided by his sighted co-stars, who alternate between audio cues of ‘safe’ and ‘reset’. This is a clever scene that is enthralling to watch.
Kids would love this show and at three-quarters of an hour it is an easily digestible length with a heartfelt message to share.
Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer
Comments