Where: Meat Market, Melbourne, Australia
A space was created, the darkness tangible. The sound was piercing, thrumming through the floor boards into your secluded space. Each member of the audience nursed a cup – sake or green tea? – and between the darkness, the sound and the warmth of the cup, a light, a single, high supported light, began to glow.
“Sunstruck” was a simplistic form of mastery. “Formed as a kind of premonition of events, its development etched by periods of intense joy and sadness…” Trevor Patrick build on episodic experiences, though unlike developing a story sequentially, the story unfolded emotionally. That is the beauty of dance some would say. Patrick embraced each state, each feeling with such intensity that they slipped, almost unnoticed, from one to the other. We could notice how close intense joy and intense sadness become, a motif of inner outpouring, intensity verging on the insane. Each finger movement, each heave of the chest, each little sound coming voluntarily (or involuntary?) synched with the atmosphere of the moment created.
Brought to the brink of each feeling, Nick Sommerville echoed, exaggerated, and formed a board to ricochet response from. Gyrating giggles, click and whoops pierced and improved the stance, the minimal movement of Patrick.
Darkness, the changing of light, the soft whispers, sobs, the whirring of the light as it pulsated around and around the audience, the live strings… each came to harass and caress you.
This performance, 50 min long is an experience much more than an entertainment. Brought quietly and reverently into this space, this performance allows the audience to connect not only with the performers, but with themselves. All familiar with the happiness and tragedy it is to both gain and loose lives we love, “Sunstruck” will touch more than just your senses. It will embody you.