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.

How to Kill the Queen of Pop - Melbourne Fringe Festival review

When How To Kill The Queen of Pop outrageously describes itself as a murderous, drag reimagining of the 2000 Olympic Opening Ceremony, it's comforting to know that this is exactly what it delivers. Written and performed by Tom Halls, Adam Ibrahim and Samuel Russo, this is the sordid story of a pact between three best friends to destroy the Queen of Pop by murder most fab.

Halls, Ibrahim and Russo revel in their roles as Tiffanee D'Brie, Tulfah Ali and Tami Thompson respectively, as they undertake their scandalous plan to commit the unthinkable during Sydney's hosting of the Olympic Games. While they all take to their characters like a drag queen to make-up, Ibrahim in particular is highly entertaining to watch having to deal with the fact that Tulfah deal with the subtle - and not so subtle - racism she experiences.

The three have clearly worked hard at developing this show and know it inside out, so when a plastic fingernail unexpectedly breaks off, their acknowledgement and incorporation of this into the scene shows the confidence they have with the script and their characters. The flashbacks to their childhood - including scenes of them as young girls in their local church choir - are original in their re-enactment with some very clever use of props.

Hear My Eyes event - "Heartbeats" and GL

Heartbeats (2010) dir. Xavier Dolan

There is, and always has been, a constant drive to enhance people's movie watching experience, including IMAX and 3D screens and even 4D (Smell-O-Vision) screenings. Melbourne based arts organisation, Hear My Eyes, however, has taken a different approach in creating a unique experiences for audiences by incorporating live scores to accompany the film screening.

Canadian director Xavier Dolan's 2010 film, Heartbeats, which follows the story of two friends who fall in love with the same man, has been chosen for this project's screening. "The creative process varies for each project. On some occasions we choose the band first, and then it’s a matter of searching high and low for the perfect film that will suit their taste. On other occasions we choose the film first, then pitch the idea to a select few bands whose sound will complement the film," explains Creative Director, Haydn Green. "In this case, Heartbeats was chosen first and from there we focused on the band. Because Heartbeats is such a sexy, stylized film with a lot of energy and emotion, we chose local Melbourne band GL, (aka Ella Thompson and Graeme Pogson) whose 80's analogue synth pop possess the same characteristics."