I Know The End
Entering into the intimate, dimly lit space of Studio 166 we were met with comforting softness: an environment of pale sheets, pillows, and covered mattress, including draped audience seating. One dancer, Fern Mines, greets you at the door to query your level of comfort with audience interactive moments then leads you to be seated. The other dancer, Caroline De Wan, is poised with slight unsteadiness on a mattress in the centre, book in hand. A gentle, routine series of actions around the ritual of bedtime unfolds, the two dancers finally snuggling as a couple under a sheet.
From this point, we are transported to an ethereal, liminal space not defined by time. It is a playful, sometimes eerie landscape that is revealed first in darkness, and gradually very low light. As the dancers sigh and rustle in darkness, are they on the edge of dreams or nightmare? Sleep or death? Having the audience immersed in this dark state is tantalizing as we anticipate what might occur next. The immersive quality of the work is a bold step yet manages to ‘safely’ and sweetly invite the audience into experiential mode.
As the work progresses, the sheets and pillows become ‘other’ as various manipulations ensue both by dancers and audience. These transformations could form a being or a boundary, a comforting covering or more bound, physical restriction, a plaything, a folding ritual, or something more abstract. There are moments too where an audience member is invited to share a cubby of sorts as one dancer and that person are enclosed under a sheet with a torch and words are spoken.
When lighting states shift, we observe the choreography as a kind of afterimage then, as our eyes adjust, more detail is revealed. At times the dancers are barely limned in light and the images created are fascinating and otherworldly. The movement language is broad, drawing on classical and contemporary with wonderful level-change explorations, seamless lifts and exchanges of weight.
The two dancers execute Kuijpers’ choreography and vision with beautiful technique and tenderness, playfulness, or other emotions as appropriate. Both de Wan and Mines are extremely watchable and capable dancers who have embraced this experimental work with commitment and focus. It is exciting to witness emerging artists who are both talented and perceptive: Kuijpers is obviously a deep thinker and definitely a person of many talents who has obviously drawn like-minded individuals to the project. The exquisite soundscape is designed and executed by Kuijpers and raises the work to another level of excellence. The sounds and spoken text woven throughout are intriguing, extremely beautiful, and sometimes amusing. I was intrigued by the recorded texts and where they may have originated.
The imaginative lighting is another element of this work that assists the audience to maintain focus and wonder. There are LED lights placed at floor level and some handheld illumination, as well as a final image when a kind of suit of ‘points of light’ is worn by de Wan as they embrace and dance with Mines, the stage light fading away as they perhaps cross yet another threshold where we can’t follow.
Kuijpers (supported by some notable mentors) aims to ‘demystify’ contemporary dance for broader audiences and has created a moment of dance theatre experimentation which is eminently watchable and points to more exciting offerings to emerge. I am definitely looking forward to see ‘where next’ for this emerging multi-disciplinary artist.
Lisa Lanzi
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