Dancehouse is delighted to present the world premiere of (re)PURPOSE: the MVMNT, a new Housemate artist-in-residence production by Melbourne-based choreographer, Natalie Abbott.
In (re)PURPOSE: the MVMNT, Abbott appropriates the influential ballet solo, The Dying Swan (1905), to examine our expectations of dance performances, female characters and the limits of the body. She takes a lateral, multi-directional approach that both resists and caters to these expectations.
Abbott's work regularly explores the dynamics of disparate bodies in space through experiences of vulnerability—finding comfort in discomfort as a communal experience. (re)PURPOSE: the MVMNT is a duet performed by two bodies that are representative of stages in a lifecycle—navigating linear ideas of birth, life, middle/void and death. Using borrowed and recontexualised signifiers from dance, the horror genre and pop music, Abbott creates a lo-fi, dramatised spectacle that begins with familiarity before unraveling to reveal the ungroundedness of image-consumerism in the Internet Age.
Australia's premiere thereminist, Miles Brown, also front-man of cult dark-psych-space-Giallo legends, The Night Terrors, works alongside experimental sound artist, Alex Cuffe (Sky Needle), to produce a soundscape that evokes a suspenseful, unsettling atmosphere to complement the visual spectacle. The title itself references Justin Bieber’s 2015 album, Purpose, for which he released dance videos for all its tracks in a project entitled, The Movement. This decision on Abbott's behalf cites pop music as a way to interrogate notions of the spectacle (or distraction) spurred on our engagement with first person social media.
Choreographer & Performer: Natalie Abbott
Performer: Cheryl Cameron
Lighting Design: Matthew Adey
Dramaturg: Frances Barret
Sound Design: Miles Brown & Alex Cuffe
Date: 5-9 JULY
Times: 5-8 JULY (8PM), 9 JULY (5PM)
Duration: 60 mins (no interval)
Where: Dancehouse
Cost: $25 F | $20 C | $15 DH Members
Tickets here
