Performer and choreographer Natalie Abbott looks for choreography in unusual places and is committed to the idea that “everything is choreography”.
Abbott describes her work as sensorial performance experiences and ‘Maximum’ her show currently having a short run at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA) is certainly not like your standard dance or movement based performance.
Abbott has teamed up with Rolan Kats. Abbott comes from a dance background, Kats is a body builder. They’re both athletes in peak physical condition, but standing side by side they are remarkably different figures, having arrived at this point of sharing a stage having travelled very different pathways.
Maximum is work that explores many themes, it’s overtly physical, while many dance works aim to make the movement seem effortless here the opposite applies. It’s certainly a study in repetition, with sequences repeated over and over, often the performers simply running in circles, a monotonous and unexciting series of sequences, akin to swimming laps of the pool.
It’s a work that embraces error and failure, sometimes the performers slip and fall, one time they manage to hold a position for a significant amount of time, the next time they last just a few seconds. Unarguably this is a study into exhaustion, degradation and perseverance. A work that is filled with ideas and themes while delivering what appears to the casual viewer as a simple movement sequence.
When we enter the auditorium the performers are already up and moving, as the audience settles they begin to run a long series of circles as a subtle droning audio backdrop grows. As the work continues this sound will grow until it becomes a foghorn blast, grinding and relentless. At other times the music turns to a repetitive drumming, mirror the pounding heartbeats of the heathy breathing performers.
The patterns being created by the two performers become increasingly more complex until they start physically interacting with each other in a series of movements that require a mix of strength, balance and stamina.
The stage is bright and white, the light is harsh and strong, it’s bold and strong mirroring the style of the movement.
While you’re watching this movement and its marathon soundscape you can’t help but enter a trance which allows you to think about a range of questions the work provokes ranging from pondering the commitment needed to be a dancer and a body builder, which one is harder?
The two performers are so physically different, Abbott seems small and slender next to Kats bulking muscles – it’s like physically each is an alien to the other.
There is an ebb and flow of intensity in the work, they run around building up a sweat, their hearts beating faster and then there are moments of quietness with the performers breathing heavily, their chests rising and falling rapidly. It makes you wonder about the patterns in life, the fast and slow.
But like the mental process of swimming laps at the pool; one minute you’re counting how many laps you’ve done and focussing on your technique and the next you’ve fallen into a trance and started to think about other things.
During part of this show I was thinking about the themes it presented, but as it progressed I often found myself thinking of other things like why I forgot to go to lunch today, when the electricity bill is due and why didn’t Israel get more votes at Eurovision last week… and why don’t I go to the gym more often so I too could run around in ever decreasing circles.
So is it a good show? If you’re entrenched in the world of dance and movement – you’ll probably get a lot out of a show that has a unique and intriguing technique on what choreography can explore. It certainly puts forward interesting ideas in a successful way – something that many dance shows struggle to do.
If you’ve never been to contemporary movement performance this might not be the best entry point, but it’ll certainly stand out as something different.
Maximum is playing at PICA until 30 May, head to the PICA website for details.
Graeme watson ,images Gregory Lorenzutti
