Eclectic dance moves challenge audience
Arts Laureate Ross McCormack’s creation, Artefact: How to Behave in an Art Gallery was a crowd-pleaser – but it also took the audience out of their comfort zone.
The NZ Dance Company sitespecific dance/theatre work was performed at the Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatu¯ on Friday – not in the theatre, but in the gallery’s spaces themselves as part of the Nelson Arts Festival.
While Rita Angus’ portraits watched, the dancers took us on a mischievous journey – breaking art works and posing in underwear like a classical statue (which gave one child watching a serious case of the giggles).
The audience became part of the show – they were frisked by dancers clad as museum security guards, their bodies put into position for a waltz, or their arms wrapped around the chest of a mock sobbing performer.
As we were moved from space to space, objets d’art were destroyed, vacuumed, replaced.
One woman found herself caught between two competing egos – what was she thinking? Who did she prefer? The conundrum was resolved with a double handshake.
One of the fun parts of this work was the inclusion of 1980s TV and film references.
McCormack, born in 1977, found his way into dance via breakdancing – and moves from that genre were playfully incorporated, such as the hands joined together arm wave and moonwalks.
Bon Jovi and the movie Titanic also made an appearance in a performance that was fast, tight and flawless.
A soliloquy at the end of the piece explored the nature of making art and its audience: Are the artists’ creations any good? Does what we create measure up to what is between the four walls of the gallery’s space?
‘‘My mum likes my work, but that’s different,’’ mused the dancer. Be assured, McCormack, that we, the audience love your work too.
Bon Jovi and the movie Titanic also made an appearance in a performance that was fast, tight and flawless.