Part of March Dance,  WAITING GAME is presented by dance duet Phaedra Brown and Tamara Bouman and seeks to contrast the tragedies, delights and playfulness of life.

The ‘set’ for WAITING GAME is the stark, enclosed white room of Duti Studios.

Phaedra Brown and Tamara Bouman enter in loose fitting, neutral toned outfits and sit on the floor. Waiting. At times during the performance it has an atmosphere of allusion to Beckett’s ‘Waiting For Godot’.

WAITING GAME was Inspired by the creative team’s overall feeling of disillusionment at the current state of the world right now, ravaged by extreme political climates and climate change leading to, particularly, the pandemic. The need for connection in this disjointed world is emphasised. Emerging choreographer Brown is interested in improvisation, site-specific work and, above all, the humanity in dance. For this piece Brown has collaborated with fellow dancer Tamara Bouman who is interested in how the body can be used as a tool for learning, and composer Oscar Sweeney who writes a score comprising both acoustic and digital music for the work.

Sweeney’s soundscape is at times pulsating and throbbing, at other times like a metronome, and includes both acoustic and digital music as well as the pop standard The girl from Ipanema.

Brown’s at times repetitive choreography includes shoulder stretches, twists, fidgeting and sinuous arm and hand movements,  contrasted with angular ones. At times it is sculptural, or like a wave of movement ebbing and flowing.

There are bends and squats and diagonal cross -overs of the arm movement space as well as floorwork. There are diagonal backwards crossing of the space with heads together, angular sculptural poses, diagonal stretches, swooping movements in unison, but it is as if they are tripping. Slinky backbends, headstands, sphinx like poses and twitchy hands are also included.

An unusual, challenging work.

Running time 45 minutes

WAITING GAME  was performed at Duti Studios 25, 26, and 27th March 2022.

https://www.marchdance.com/waiting-game

 

https://www.marchdance.com/waiting-game