The clouds started to gather, the mild slow drizzle had already started to colour the streets grey, not the kind of weather to witness an explosive, challenging dance performance that is ‘The Status Of Being’.
But I was on my way to do just that. I haven’t been to a performance @ Baycourt for a while, let alone reviewed one. So as I sped over the harbour bridge at 80 kilometers per hour. I was wondering just what exactly ‘The Status Of Being’ could be about. The title alone stretched the imagination from philosophy to politics to abstract spirituality and beyond. All of which turns out were the elements that were integrated into the dance performance…And then some!
So as I parked my car in the lonely parking lot. No one, would have suspected that just up the steps and through the doors our cultural consciousness was going to be completely deconstructed and then put back together through a pop culture, icon driven, tour de force of dance, music, visuals, theatre and comedy.
The audience was gathered in the lobby. Scattered in their social cliques, sipping wine and beer that was entirely too expensive, as these types of venues goes. But it was a classy kind of night; we were here to watch a performance with profanity, nudity, and absolutely ridiculous associative leaps of logic and ideas. Some had even brought their kids along.
We filed slowly and languidly into the hall, it wasn’t the main auditorium, but the annex, which was just enough to make the piece intimate, just enough to make the piece LOUD!…and I felt it as soon as the room was darkened and the vibrations of the bass shook the earth under my feet…
Aww shit! Here we go…
Projection of corporate logos. Forgotten Spielberg voiceover. E.T. Google. Vodafone. Facebook. Lost icons of evolution. The monkey. The pig. The human. A girl with a bouquet of flowers. Bright red outfits. Rejection of unity. Harmony in flesh. Chaos and disorder. The hallucination of time. The missing link. Popstar messiah. Electronic crucifixions. The international Roman Empire. The oppression of voice. The futility of discourse. Invisible twitter rants, facebook comments, YouTube comments. Smartphone ignorance. Robot soldiers. CGI warlords. Video game enemies. False spirituality. Everyday bullshit. Heavy metal meditation. Rockstar worship. The suppression of words. Restriction of knowledge. Who is wrong? Who is right? A fight for the mic. The obsolete written word. Books ripped from the hands of silent prophets. Distortion of language. Ultimate misinterpretation. Tears on the coffin. Honest eulogies. Bonnie and Clyde funerals. The death of the lover. The death of Love. The celebration of life. Audience participation.
The status of being is ultraviolence
The status of being is chaos
The status of being is human
The status of being is alien
The status of being is power
The status of being is control
The status of being is choice
The status of being is an idea
The status of being is the status of consciousness…
Or is it?
That was the question on my mind as I wandered out of the annex in that post-art haze, back into the dark, sodium vapour illuminated, rain washed streets. Back into the cave, back into the screen, back into my own mind.
I guess I will think about it later.
Dhaivat Mehta is a multi-talented, young, local Tauranga creative. Dhaivat is also organising and developing ARTbop alternative, a new section for ARTbop to launch in February 2015.
