Zaffé review

Upon arrival to Zaffé, we are greeted by a host who tells us to take a seat inside. There are six long tables on either side of the room and there is plenty of conversation and chatter taking place. Once all the guests have settled, we are officially welcomed to the zaffé with a chorus of Arabic call and responses.

Stemming from the Muslim culture, zaffé is traditionally a procession at a wedding that is filled with love, warmth and energy. Except tonight's wedding has no bride or groom. The people in this room are the bride and groom and we celebrate this community and the love, warmth and energy that is present here.

The Platonic Human Centipede review (Melbourne International Comedy Festival)

There is no greater gesture to prove your love and loyalty to your bestie, your partner-in-crime, your wingperson, your right-hand man, than by surgically attaching your mouth to their anus. Right? In The Platonic Human Centipede, the sensational duo of Mel & Sam explore the unsung duos of the world and the lengths they would go to, to always allow nothing but the best for each other.

Through an hour of original songs and dance, Mel & Sam search high and low to honour duos that we would expect and some that are quite surprising. There are so many highlights in this show, but the two that are absolutely hysterical are Robert and Bindi Irwin singing to their late father (but with some ulterior motives) and a Willy Wonka and Charlie Bucket reunion years after that fateful Chocolate Factory encounter.

Ruthless! The Musical review

Everyone wants to be talented. But not everyone can be talented. First performed Off-Broadway in 1992, Ruthless! The Musical is all about the lengths that people will go to be known and adored. This is the kind of show where you think it can't possibly go there, and it does, with much glee, audacity and campness.



Melbourne icon Dolly Diamond takes centre stage as talent agent Sylvia St. Croix who is determined to make Tina Denmark a star, even if it means creating a monster. Chloe Halley, giving off fabulous Little House on the Prairie Nellie Oleson vibes, as the menacingly charming 8-year-old acting prodigy. Britni Leslie as Tina's talentless homemaker mother finds great comedic timing and delivery as Judy and provides some devilish surprises for the audience in Act 2. Despite having a supporting role, Olivia Charalambous steals every scene she is when let loose as Eve, an obsessive and slightly unhinged assistant.

Malevo review

A South American dance troupe that reached the semi-finals of America’s Got Talent can now add Australia to the list of countries they have performed in. Created by director, choreographer and dancer Matías Jaime, the 11 men of Malevo show exceptional skills in moving their bodies, specifically through malambo, an Argentinian style of dance that includes zapeteo, a signature footwork combining elements of tap dancing and flamenco.

The group stomp and tap their feet in heeled boots in perfect unison with their energy starting at 100. While this is impressive on its own, throughout the concert, the dancers strap themselves with drums, whips and boleadoras which add a further level of difficulty, skill and thrill. Not only do their legs, hands and bodies move at such fast-pace speeds you can barely glimpse them, but they do it in rhythm and in sync with each other that comes across as effortless. It would not be easy to undertake this choreography where they are often physically close together with whips being cracked and boleadoras getting spun in the air.

Triptych review

Anyone who has witnessed a Phillip Adams dance work knows to expect the unexpected. Adams has a knack for creating daring and disruptive pieces that explore themes around sexuality in its rawest form. His newest work Triptych, takes inspiration from Francis Bacon’s 1970 triptych painting, Triptych, in which Bacon used distortion and fragmentation to call attention to his own ideas around love, sex and religion.

In the first of three parts, four dancers (Harrison Hall, Samuel Harnett-Welk, Benjamin Hurley and Oliver Savariego) dressed in simple yet stunning Toni Maticevski designs, spend forty minutes writhing and convulsing on a circular pink carpet to a highly piercing and penetrating score by David Chisholm and Duane Morrison. While one pair appears to have more intimate and vulnerable interactions, the other pair is more aggressive and brutal. The two pairs circle each other, and at times make physical contact with each other, indicating how civility and animal instincts can easily be interchanged, something that Bacon depicted with his art. There are times where you wonder if Adams has choreographed this or if the dancers have completely given themselves over to these urges and being spellbound by the stirring composition. It's a rare experience to watch a performance and feel such intensity permeate throughout the room and be utterly transfixed by what is unfolding.

Nu-Disco! review (Melb Fringe)

Some of our most memorable moments happen here. We meet people who we instantly connect with while knowing nothing about them. People we may have never otherwise met. We also learn about ourselves and even how society functions. Welcome to the world of clubbing. Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Ellen Marning's Nu-Disco! takes us into the dark recesses of a pulsating nightclub and the people who go there.

The experience of sitting in a tiny theatre space and seeing it transform into a tight, crowded, sweaty space of bodies moving together with a single person on stage is quite surreal. Marning delivers an enthralling performance as she swaps between characters while covering a gamut of emotions, thoughts and encounters. There is a lot of care taken to tell these stories in a genuine manner, and while they may be funny, we are never laughing at them.

Ellen Marning is dancing the night (and the day) away with "Nu-Disco!"

You can dance. You can jive. Having the time of your life. That's what Ellen Marning was doing in Berlin earlier this year as she immersed herself in some fervent daytime clubbing. And she's bringing it to Melbourne. Presented as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival, Nu-Disco! takes a look at dance culture and sharing "the moment".

"I was drawn to a show set in a club space because I love dancing and wanted permission to go clubbing as a form of ‘research’ and also having worked with award-winning audio artist Robert Downie in the past, I felt a lot of trust and excitement about working with him sonically to establish place, mood and character," Marning tells me. "Nu-Disco! explores one woman’s experience at a club over the course of a night. Time stretches and condenses in a club space (at least to me anyway) and it’s a metaphor for where she is at in her life. Late 20s, confused, horny, lonely, full of bravado, full of questions, full of rage she can’t quite place. It’s a celebration of the highs and an examination of the lows that can go along with these spaces."

Future. Joy. Club. review

It's been a hellish last few years for us all, and while we might not be getting off this bumpy ride any time soon, Finucane & Smith are here to ensure that we can still have a good time with their new production Future. Joy. Club. From cabaret to burlesque to dancing to singing and to everything in between, they bring together some beautiful people performing breathtaking acts in a extravaganza full of fun, laughs and love.

Mama Alto begins the show by belting out Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”. It is one of the many highlights of the night and illustrative of the premise for Future. Joy. Club, where we will survive, and we will thrive. Joining Mama is an army of onesie wearing dancers spreading the glee into the audience at the Sofitel ballroom.

Bunny review (Melbourne International Comedy Fetival)

New Zealand performer Barnie Duncan returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a show that is quite unlike what he has done in the past. His trademark absurdity is still evident in Bunny, but Duncan's dissection of whether dancing at a nightclub at 3am was a way of dealing with his grief or avoiding it after his mother passed away last year, adds a level of intimacy and vulnerability that is often difficult to convey on stage.

While a few jokes don't land that well, or have been tacked on for a cheap laugh (Will Smith's Oscars behaviour is already such a tired punchline), Duncan shows strong control of the audience and meeting the expectations we have upon entering this surreal show about clubbing and death. The unique way in which Duncan sees and understands the world is clearly presented, and with an open heart he shares the complexities of dealing with grief and mourning the death of a loved one, particularly during a pandemic.

A Very Fancy Dinner Party - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Seeing Michelle Brasier in KWANDA and Laura Frew in Fringe Wives Club's Glittergrass last week was a great way to whet my appetite for their new Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, A Very Fancy Dinner Party. As individuals they certainly have a strong engaging stage presence but as Double Denim, their absurdist humour becomes unstoppable and unpredictable, leaving audiences with no idea on what is going to happen next.

The very loose premise of A Very Fancy Dinner Party is that they – along with three other couples – are competing on a reality TV cooking show, Eat My Shit, hosted by Andrew G and James Mathison. Why Andrew G and James Mathison? Why not? Brasier and Frew play all the couples and the hosts, as well as a few more guest characters, including a pair of crabs which they seem to have most fun with.

Garry Starr Conquers Troy - Melbourne International Comedy Festival review

Last year, Garry Starr told us all what an amazing actor he is in Garry Starr Performs Everything. This year, he returns to tell us how to be an amazing actor just like him. In Garry Starr Conquers Troy, Garry takes us through his new book, step by step and chapter by chapter with hints and tips on how to break into Hollywood and have every agent and director banging on our door.

Garry (performed by Damien Warren-Smith) has lost some of his arrogance this time round, but not of all it. He is still deluded about his triple threat performance skills but he is earnest in his effort to help his fellow actors out. We are provided with lessons on a range of topics, including how to audition for a director when we are work without them even realising what is happening, and there's also a spot on how to absorb our lines from a script and never have to worry about forgetting them. 

The 24 Hour Dance Project - Melbourne Fringe Festival preview

Freya McGrath is letting dance take over her mind, body and soul during the Melbourne Fringe Festival. For 24 hours, McGrath will dance non-stop, only being able to have a break when an audience member volunteers themselves to dance in her place. Until someone taps in, she cannot eat, sleep or rest. The 24 Hour Dance Project is an immersive, participatory dance experience for performer and audiences, and the culmination of a long term project that McGrath has been working on.

"The origin of this idea was a fairly simple one. Last year, I took a subject at university which covered performance artwork and endurance work. We focussed on artists like Marina Abramović and Tehching Hsieh, and my friends and I marvelled at the level of commitment and ideology of these artists," she explains. "It prompted me to think about whether I was capable of creating an endurance work - if so, what would I be willing to push my mental and physical limits for? The answer I came to, at first jokingly, was dance."

Canine Choreography - Next Wave Festival review

Since 2009, Dances with Dogs has been approved by the Australian National Kennel Council as an official sport in Australia. That's right; dog owners perform fully themed, costumed and choreographed dance numbers to music with their canine counterparts. Presented as part of Next Wave, Canine Choreography takes a number of dog owners and their pets and has them recreating award winning Dances with Dogs routines while highlighting the relationships and bonds we share with dogs.

Creator Danielle Reynolds interviews a number of dog owners, including some from the Dances with Dogs community. There is a slight Best In Show mockumentary feel throughout as people gush over their pets and the seriousness in which competitive dog dancing is discussed. These moments prove to be the most entertaining and unfortunately this is where the problem with Canine Choreography lies.

"Bent Bollywood": Bending Gender Through Dance

Combining Indian classical dancing with the camp theatrics of Bollywood through a queer lens, Bent Bollywood was a definite must-see show during Midsumma Festival this year. Created and Performed by queer performance artists Raina Peterson and Govind Pillai, the show explored how different sexualities, genders and cultures can co-exist and complement each other.

Bent Bollywood began with a nod to traditional dancing and gradually grew in its exploration of queerness within these heavily steeped traditions. "Raina particularly was using lots of gendered mudras (hand gestures) in their spiritual solo opening piece, doing the gesture for female and male repeatedly. They were working with those traditional gestures and dissolving them into dust to almost disestablish the notion of binary genders," Pillai tells me.

RIOT - Midsumma Festival review

This time last year, drag artist Panti Bliss was in Melbourne during Midsumma Festival with her solo show, High Heels in Low Places. In 2018, Panti returns with a number of her talented friends in tow for a hugely entertaining and political evening of circus, dance, poetry and music with RIOT.

There is non-stop wonderment to be had as Panti brings together a fine selection of performers who are a joy to watch on stage. The way in which each act is devised and performed makes them feel like they are something incredibly special and affecting. Led by Panti's inviting display of warmth and humour, the entire audience feels like they are part of the show too. We are all creating something here.

Kate Brennan's spoken word on power, poverty and class divide shows how powerful words can be in showing what the world is like and fostering change. Similarly, opening night's guest performer Melbourne singer Mojo Juju performed her new song about her Indigenous and Filipino heritage to rapturous applause.

7 Pleasures - Melbourne Festival review

It's interesting how much uncomfortable conversation sex and nudity can create and how people can easily feel confronted by seeing a breast or a penis. So when you're watching a performance art piece in which the dancers are nude for the entire show, it can lead to some awkward moments. However, Mette Ingvarsten is well aware of this fact and in 7 Pleasures she immediately knocks down the obvious issue before the performance has even begun, or before anyone in the audience is given a chance to realise it has begun.

Ingarsten's work explores the pleasure - and the pain - the body can provide and the difficulty in being able to enjoy one's own body when faced with constriction and conflict. The set design for 7 Pleasures is simple and familiar, a living room with a few chairs, a table, coffee table and a pot plant. Its familiarity is what sets you at ease...except for the giant sculpture of naked bodies forming in a back corner.

All Of My Friends Were There - Melbourne Festival review

Many of us would agree that spending your birthday with a room full of strangers would generally not be the most ideal way to celebrate the occasion - however with The Guerrilla Museum's new interactive and immersive live artwork, All Of My Friends Were There, that's exactly what we get to do. The show a lucky dip of adventure, where you are allocated to a group and led through a number of rooms with performances and experiences revolving around birthdays.

We are split into our groups before we even enter the venue and my plus one is not to be seen again until the end, so it's time to make new friends and party like it's all our birthdays. It's difficult to review this type of show when you only get to experience about one quarter of it, but the conversations post-show made it clear that there was a lot more happening than that which a single person is able to experience.

SELF - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Performers always appear to have an air of confidence about them. They know how to turn on the charm, how to dress and how to behave and are always surrounded by people who adore them. In a  new musical theatre piece directed by Michael Ralph, SELF looks to explore what happens when the man who seemingly has everything together on the outside is falling apart on the inside.

The show begins before the audience is even aware it has started, with a whispering voice relaying a continuous stream of self-doubting and critical thoughts around success and the types of questions artists constantly ask themselves and get asked. Questions such as 'how long have you been creating for?’ and 'how do I express myself?’ keep repeating as the voice gets louder and louder. The silent and motionless band sit along the back of the stage, shrouded in darkness and add to the tension of the internal nightmare being constructed.

Motion Gallery - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

Transit Dance transforms into a labyrinth of movement with nine intimate performances within Motion Gallery. Conceived and realised by its 2nd year students, this immersive evening of dance showcases the talent that lies in both the school's dance students and its choreographers, as film and dance come together to create striking images and memorable performances. 

The evening begins with One Alternate (choreographed by Gabrielle Loveridge and Sarah McCrorie); an intriguing performance dealing with parallel universes and identical lives. Once this piece has concluded, we are guided to another room for the next piece and while I initially worried that this structure would take away from the immersive aspect of Motion Gallery, it worked quite well, particularly due to the role of the dancers-cum-ushers.

While each piece has its own theme, there is still an overarching idea linking the performances with regards to identity and how we connect to each other - either through human / physical contact or through technology and the digital age we find ourselves in. There are some pieces that don't seem to work in terms of concept and execution or feeling quite similair to something we've already seen, but the ones that do are hugely rewarding and I would love to see these ones explored and expanded upon in the future.

Choreographed by Nicole Muscat and Kady Mansour, Tapua is a humourous look at menstruation and sacredness with the four dancers (Meg Bassett, Kimberley Halberg Annaleise Gaffney and Matillda Hall) displaying some impressive physicality and characterisation. The costumes, set design and music all come together perfectly to build on the environment and themes being explored.

Neon Dreams - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

The 80s are the greatest music decade ever and after seeing Transit Dance's Neon Dreams, I'm fairly certain they agree. Performed by 25 first year students of the school's Performing Arts course, you easily feel like you have time travelled back to the era where music was - for the most part - all about moving your body and  singing as loud as you could.

The soundtrack consists of some iconic 80s gems such as Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", RUN-DMC's "Tricky" and Robert Palmer's "Simply Irresistible", with all songs providing a great opportunity to display the versatility and skill of each dancer. However the highlight of the evening was Cassidy Richardson and Dimitri Raptis turn in INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart". Their ability to convey a complexity of emotions while performing the sensually aggressive choreography by Yvette Lee had the entire room transfixed.

Similarly, Jessica Cranage in Michael Sembello's "Maniac" was completely taken over by the music and delivered an absolutely commanding performance. The evening also includes a moment of reflection with a touching tribute to 80s music legends lost over the years, including Whitney Houston, David Bowie, Prince and Michael Jackson. 

Lee's choreography is engaging, active and takes into account many of the dancer's own unique abilities. Lee is able to create strong, distinct routines for each act and within that, individual moves for each dancer, resulting in audiences always having something new to see no matter where you are looking on the stage.