Local company Blink Dance Theatre continues to explore multidisciplinary modes of performance when it premieres its newest work early next month.
Part photographic exhibition, part dance performance, part live music event, RAVENS can be seen as an extension of Blink Dance Theatre’s work to date, in which the company has explored blending dance and movement with other media and modes of performance.
The work includes the photography of Sarah Walker, original music composed and performed live by Josh Mitchell, striking raven head masks designed and created by Phil Besancon and the physical movements of Jessica Lesosky, Elise Wilkinson, Sarah Hall and Susan Van Den Ham.
With themes of connection and the spaces between human, animal and environment, Blink Dance artistic director Jessica Lesosky said she hoped RAVENS would provoke conversation.
“Each and every audience member will have their own interpretation and experience, but I’m hoping the ravens will inspire; inspire conversation, inspire that connection we have between us and our environment as well as us, as humans, to each other,” Lesosky said.
“Can they inspire us to listen deeper? Can these ravens inspire us to move closer, in the sense of listening and connecting?”
Creative producer and performer Elise Wilkinson said the physical format of the work, with audience members beginning indoors exploring the exhibition “with beer in hand” before moving outside for the live performance, would provide a unique experience.
“I think the idea of going from looking at the photographs and the projection, where you’re quite passive as an audience member… to then finding yourself outside and within a landscape where they’re real, that messes with the fourth wall a little,” Wilkinson said.
RAVENS is at Boom Gallery at 6.30pm on Thursday, November 9.
