INDUSTRY PARTY
INDUSTRY PARTY collides the promise and problems of power – as it plays out within us, and within our industries.
Can we disrupt relentless mechanisms of mammonistic progress and swerve toward humanity – or will it kill the vibe? Can inanimate objects edit the guestlist? The punch has spiked itself in revolt. There’s a megalomaniac in the air vent. The astroturf needs a trim.
Te Pou Theatre, Auckland, 2023.
Auckland Arts Festival – outdoor locations, 2024.
Choreography – Jessie McCall
Rehearsal Direction – Tamsin Russel & Katie Burton
“Oppressive power in this work feels like an invisible, omnipresent force which acts through the agency of objects and set, animated by the dancers’ preoccupation with orienting themselves around them, through them, against them. Shifts in status between the dancers are ephemeral, signified by who is now wearing the high-vis, who holds the megaphone, who claps icily at the frozen absurdist tableaux. Status is not hoarded in this work. It is lost and gained fluidly by the dancers. I perceive an enduring solidarity among the dancers even as they are divided and occupied. There is a sense that they are all in conversation with industry, attempting to collectively queer its boundaries. ”
– Rose Tapsell, Theatreview Full Review Here
“As objects like air vents and pipes get repeatedly re-purposed and re-assembled, taking on a life of their own, there is a sense of hope that instead of deadening and extracting the life-juice from dancers, with enough unsettling of perception, the arts world might be able to regenerate and re-animate itself out of the concrete grind of industry. ”
– Rose Tapsell, Theatreview Full Review Here