Triptych
Australian choreographer Lewis Major is presenting his captivating contemporary dance work, Triptych, as part of this year’s Sydney Fringe Festival. This show has had a sold-out international tour through Australia, Ireland, Italy, Brazil, England and Scotland, and is now bringing its world class experience to the delight Eternity Playhouse in Darlinghurst. The Eternity Playhouse is being billed as the Off-Broadway Hub for the Festival.
Lewis grew up in the southeast of South Australia and, like much of rural Australia, a scarcity of art is available to audiences. Consequently, Lewis aims to make his creations accessible to audiences and to make them relevant, expressive and revealing. Triptych is a multifaceted blend of sensual movement, eclectic sound and fabulous lighting, expressing the internal lives and connections of the dancers with the externalities of the performance. One way to consider a dance performance is the same way you can regard a tree. The tree is beautiful and impressive but there is no requirement to interrogate what it means. The physical, emotional and narrative aspects exist simultaneously with the visceral responses of the audience.
The Triptych is a performance in three parts, titled Prologue, Unfolding and Epilogue. Epilogue is further split into Act 1 – Lament and Act 2. Prologue features three female fluid and whirling dancers contrasted to an almost staccato music score. Unfolding starts with two female and two male dancers and spectacular and striking triangles of light. The light evolves into pyramids and mesmerizing patterns that are projected onto the floor and the dancers. It is breathtaking as the lighting and the dancers respond and complement each other. The smooth flowing music evolves into rock and heavy metal. Sounds like thunder and helicopters evoked a psychedelic Vietnam war feeling. The lighting, by Fausto Brusamolino, created an optical illusion that the dancers seemed to float across the floor. Epilogue Act 1 made an innovative use of composer A Filetta’s Corsican acapella music in an exquisite display of strength and intimacy. The use of exotic and unusually toned music was visionary. Act 2, the closing piece, featured a single male dancer in forms reminiscent of a Greek statue. He was dusted in sand and slid across the powdery, sandy floor, blending sculpture, dust and movement in a cohesive and evocative performance.
Congratulations to choreographer Lewis Major, dancers Stefaan Morrow, Abbey Harby, Elsi Faulks and Rebecca Bassett, composers Koki Nakano, James Brown, A Filetta and Dane Yates, and lighting designer Fausto Brusamolino. Lewis Major was also responsible for most of the lighting design and featured as a dancer.
TRIPTYCH opened 3rd September at the Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst, as part of the Sydney Fringe Festival. It runs until 6th September. It is highly recommended.
