Miracle
The latest work by BalletLab. Nominated for 5 Green Room Awards.
Winner of 2!
Choreography and direction: Phillip Adams
Music and sound composition: David Chisholm and Myles Mumford
Dancers: Luke George, Kyle Kremerskothern, Clair Peters and Brooke Stamp
Costumes: Toni Maticevski
Lighting: Bluebottle & Jenny Hector
Short video promo. Click here.
Synopsis
Miracle is a post 9/11 work that takes up contemporary concerns about religious radicalism and uses revolutionary evangelist groups from the 1960s and 70s to explore the dymanics of group behaviour, rapture and the desire to achieve an alternate, transcendent state of being through religion. Artistic Director, Phillip Adams considered the manipulative power of Jim Jones of The People's Temple and Australia's own celebrated alternative cult/community, the Universal Brotherhood to create
Miracle, in which the group experience of emotionally charged religious fervour and alienation from conventional life is played out as an experiential performance.
Miracle creates a vision of the world that is both brutal and sublime. What transpires is an examination of the promises of a new beginning and the false hopes and religious stereotypes that these practices produce. The work builds up to a choreographic crescendo, including dissonant playing of harmonicas, and an epiphany that culminates in a phenomena - of live levitation by two dancers - The Miracle.
Constantly confronting and emotionally charged, Miracle is an all-consuming experience not to be missed...
Miracle was made possible by two significant partnerships with the
Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart (due to open in new premises in 2011) and the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Centre (
EMPAC) in Rensselaer, New York where BalletLab undertook a 4-week residency in December 2008. The work has undergone four development periods in total, including 3 weeks in Melbourne as part of the Victorian Arts Centre's Full Tilt program.
Miracle was part of the
2009 State of Design FestivalMiracle has been supported by
Arts Victoria,
Australia Council for the Arts,
City of Melbourne &
MONA