Dabda
Dabda, a dance piece, began with some missteps, but recovered beautifully.
It opened with a short projected (and not well made) film to establish a time period and premise for the piece. Use of film at a Fringe show in this way annoys me. If I want to watch a movie, I'll go to one of the many excellent movie festivals. However, it ended up being short, and not really used again as a device.
The second misstep was that, after firmly establishing a setting of the 1940s, and a subplot of a possible child abduction, neither element is clearly revisited for the duration of the piece. The dance style is firmly contemporary and the costumes are vague enough to be likewise. Better to just have a short establishing number to introduce the company and some elements of internal conflict.
Happily, from a beginning that had me ready to dislike the production, each number progressively won me over. The dancers (I saw the understudy cast, so I can only imagine that the usual cast would be as strong or stronger) were uniformly excellent, though a personal standout for me was Chirstopher Duarte, who had a stand-out presence and expression. His energy was always out to every extremity and he fully inhabited every movement.
The music selection was superb, and properly cut and mixed. The choreography was full of drive, variety and mood, and the company consistently rose to the occasion. I found many of the group moments visually rich and interesting, and some of the larger number completely engrossing.
By the end of the performance, I was won over. Shows like this make me so very happy that the fringe opened itself to dance a number of years ago.
Recommendation: See this show!
The Oak Room
A winter blizzard, a closing bar, a stranger at the door with a story to tell. With the feel of a camp fire tale, the tale plays out. Story is important in this piece, as, much like the thousand nights and one night, storytellers tell stories of story tellers. Unlike the thousand nights, however, the drive is perhaps to something more sinister than survival.
The frame narrative of the show sets things up a little too slowly for my taste, sacrificing pace for mood. As the tales progress to their inevitable and beautifully inescapable conclusion, I felt that the tension needed to ramp up more fiercely than it did.
That said, each actor does a fine job in contributing his tale to the overall story, and in the end, the production leave you satisfied.
Recommended.
Corpus Matris
Corpus Matris is a traditional Indian dance performance by Paromita Kar celebrating subversive female figures from Indian mythology.
I found it very well performed, but also found that I was lacking the context in which to properly appreciate or engage with it. Because I am not (and I assume most of the Fringe audience is not) versed in the mythology, or the dance form presented, I was really hoping for help entering into the pieces. A guide or interpreter to help me understand what I was watching would have helped me have a deeper appreciation, I feel. While the program indicated that efforts were made to keep in mind the Canadian context in which it was performed, I found that I needed more hand holding. Without such a way into the piece, the result was that it felt more like a museum piece that the vibrant dance form that I truly suspect it is.
Recommended if you have an interest in classical Indian dance or like to expose yourself to other cultures. You will appreciate it more if you are more versed in the form.
Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2
This cabaret act is inspired by the cabarets of the Wiemar Republic, and takes place at the Bite bar, at College and Bathurst. The performers are generally good, with the female performers generally outshining the male. Stand out moments, however, come from Natasha Negovanlis with a haunting rendition of Youkali, and Christian Jeffries touching perfomance of Lili Marlene. The storytelling skills of MC duo Ryan Anning and Scott Dermody also deserve a special mention as their telling of "The Bürgermeister and the Blades" was by turns amusing and chilling.
The performance is in two acts and I found that while Act I was enjoyable enough, the company really hit its stride in the second set.
Recommendation: Show up early for a meal and stay for the show!
Dabda, a dance piece, began with some missteps, but recovered beautifully.
It opened with a short projected (and not well made) film to establish a time period and premise for the piece. Use of film at a Fringe show in this way annoys me. If I want to watch a movie, I'll go to one of the many excellent movie festivals. However, it ended up being short, and not really used again as a device.
The second misstep was that, after firmly establishing a setting of the 1940s, and a subplot of a possible child abduction, neither element is clearly revisited for the duration of the piece. The dance style is firmly contemporary and the costumes are vague enough to be likewise. Better to just have a short establishing number to introduce the company and some elements of internal conflict.
Happily, from a beginning that had me ready to dislike the production, each number progressively won me over. The dancers (I saw the understudy cast, so I can only imagine that the usual cast would be as strong or stronger) were uniformly excellent, though a personal standout for me was Chirstopher Duarte, who had a stand-out presence and expression. His energy was always out to every extremity and he fully inhabited every movement.
The music selection was superb, and properly cut and mixed. The choreography was full of drive, variety and mood, and the company consistently rose to the occasion. I found many of the group moments visually rich and interesting, and some of the larger number completely engrossing.
By the end of the performance, I was won over. Shows like this make me so very happy that the fringe opened itself to dance a number of years ago.
Recommendation: See this show!
The Oak Room
A winter blizzard, a closing bar, a stranger at the door with a story to tell. With the feel of a camp fire tale, the tale plays out. Story is important in this piece, as, much like the thousand nights and one night, storytellers tell stories of story tellers. Unlike the thousand nights, however, the drive is perhaps to something more sinister than survival.
The frame narrative of the show sets things up a little too slowly for my taste, sacrificing pace for mood. As the tales progress to their inevitable and beautifully inescapable conclusion, I felt that the tension needed to ramp up more fiercely than it did.
That said, each actor does a fine job in contributing his tale to the overall story, and in the end, the production leave you satisfied.
Recommended.
Corpus Matris
Corpus Matris is a traditional Indian dance performance by Paromita Kar celebrating subversive female figures from Indian mythology.
I found it very well performed, but also found that I was lacking the context in which to properly appreciate or engage with it. Because I am not (and I assume most of the Fringe audience is not) versed in the mythology, or the dance form presented, I was really hoping for help entering into the pieces. A guide or interpreter to help me understand what I was watching would have helped me have a deeper appreciation, I feel. While the program indicated that efforts were made to keep in mind the Canadian context in which it was performed, I found that I needed more hand holding. Without such a way into the piece, the result was that it felt more like a museum piece that the vibrant dance form that I truly suspect it is.
Recommended if you have an interest in classical Indian dance or like to expose yourself to other cultures. You will appreciate it more if you are more versed in the form.
Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2
This cabaret act is inspired by the cabarets of the Wiemar Republic, and takes place at the Bite bar, at College and Bathurst. The performers are generally good, with the female performers generally outshining the male. Stand out moments, however, come from Natasha Negovanlis with a haunting rendition of Youkali, and Christian Jeffries touching perfomance of Lili Marlene. The storytelling skills of MC duo Ryan Anning and Scott Dermody also deserve a special mention as their telling of "The Bürgermeister and the Blades" was by turns amusing and chilling.
The performance is in two acts and I found that while Act I was enjoyable enough, the company really hit its stride in the second set.
Recommendation: Show up early for a meal and stay for the show!