At 6pm there was a queue of people – maybe 100 – stretching half a block down Clarence Street waiting to enter the Machine Hall for the performance of AURA MECHANICA by Twisted Element Company. There seemed something grunge and very urban about this style of performance event, something not seen often enough if at all in Sydney. A non descript entrance to old commercial space. A show in demand, with a following. Word of mouth. Impressive, how many independent groups achieve such an opening night?
The interior of the building was anything but grunge. The cavernous industrial Machine Hall space has had a serious makeover – it is a glam function room, made available as part of the M-power program to independent artists.
Pro party lights and strobes were moving and flashing as the audience entered, music throbbed in majestic volumes and speakers. Suddenly the event was more like a dance party or city club – in fact, that is what the program was, for the first half hour. A bar, unexpurgated music and chaser sequences. Young bodies rocked, sauntered, mingled. Few sat. There was no visible DJ but there could have been.
Then a few minutes after 7, without very noticeable change in music or lights, a group of six performers moved in a solemn slow fitful procession along a higher floor balustrade, down a set of stairs at one end, in a set piece of 10 minutes. The audience gradually joined in spectatorial gaze, at choreographed action. There was without doubt anticipation – the suspenseful style, contrapunctal to the fast pace of the preceding 30 minutes – ensured that was the case. This was the first of a large number of pieces, shared among 17 young female performers, all benefiting from excellent costuming. digital light accoutrements, masks, swathes of material, skimpy skirts – the evening soon became a fashion parade, with a guide helping the audience find site lines that best see indeed allowed staging. 150 or so people, standing – but with help of white cubes, and ingenuity.
There seemed to be constantly cleverly crafted fluid movement items, all exploring the huge space and interacting with its audience, all optimising moving head chases and carefully crafted music. Choreographer Angela Hamilton was nothing if not confident and assured in optimising opportunities afforded by the venue.
Choreography benefited greatly from the club context, in a program that was novel and vital.
Parade? Dance party event? How to best describe its style? The program note compared it to an exhibition, where audiences would move to different spaces, even rooms. This did not quite prove to be the case – the audience were relatively static except for fine tuning of the performance area. The program resembled more items in a club or entertainment venue. There was dramatism and narrative gesture in pieces – frequent promenades, exclamations, game like interaction with the audience. However these were not linked, or fulfilled in any climactic narrative. There was a lot to enjoy, in the fragmented enigma that resulted. The costumed actants, the unexpected twists, the moving setting. There were aspects of style – at times the poignant syncing of movement, music and light – that were part of an absorbing toolkit that should serve the Twisted Element Company its followers. well in future shows.
All in all an intriguing show, in a spectacular venue, much loved by its audience. Arresting yes, with potential to be a lot more.
This dance was performed at the performance space at Machine Hall, Clarence Street, city.
