Seven Impossible Pieces
Australian Dance Artists in association with Ken Unsworth, presents SEVEN IMPOSSIBLE PIECES, in the Ken Unsworth Studio, in Alexandria. October 1, 2, 3 4, & 6, 2016.
SEVEN IMPOSSIBLE PIECES has an original score by Jonathan Cooper. Seven pieces written for six musicians – solo, duets trios etc. Jonathan Copper plays piano and Harmonium; Claire Edwardes, side drum; Genevieve Lang, harp; Jason Nobel, bass & clarinet; James Nightingale, soprano saxophone; James Wannan, viola. To these ‘impossible pieces’ the Australian Dance Artists: Susan Barling, Anca Frankenhaeuser, Patrick Harding-Irmer and Ross Philip with Creative Collaborator Norman Hall have Choreographed dance. Ken Unsworth has provided Set pieces, whilst the costuming was Designed by Emma Kingsbury.
Australian Dance Artists was founded in 1995 and is made up of a collective of mature dancers. They have worked in collaboration with Ken Unsworth for many of those years. This is the fourth production of their’s that I have seen.
Just an hour long this work sits inside a white box space that is dramatically lit by Roderick van Gelder and augmented with ingeniously Designed properties by Mr Unsworth – beautiful – that also, sometimes, become an inter-active pragmatic ‘performer’. There is often an impish wit to this imput.
This program gives a focus to the dance/movement: each artist give a solo, there are two duets and, ultimately, an ensemble piece with a piano/washing machine. Seven pieces! The costuming by Ms Kingsbury is elegant and dance savvy and gives empathetic visual dimension to the choreography. With the combining contributions of all the artists involved, they deliver, especially, arrived at images of distracting beauty.
There is a choreographic simplicity and directness to this work that provides for an elegant and satisfying experience. SEVEN IMPOSSIBLE PIECES, another gentle contribution to the fabric of the Sydney Performing Art scene.