Marketing Info &
Requirements
1. TEXT REQUIREMENTS
Production Title
Company/Artist Name For
the headline credit
Short Description Strapline
Opal Vapour
By Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal
in collaboration with Paula van Beek and Ria Soemardjo
Against a shimmering terrain of shadow and sand a contemporary ritual, inspired by ancient Java, is danced
and sung of mountains, bones and ghostly rivers.
Against a shimmering terrain of shadow and sand a contemporary ritual, inspired by ancient Java, is danced
and sung of mountains, bones and ghostly rivers.
OPAL VAPOUR explores cleansing for purification and a deep sense of belonging to a place of birth.
Description – 120 words
Text for venue brochures,
flyer, program guide listing
Created across two countries – Australia and Indonesia – offering powerful physical and internal states
while balancing moral and spiritual aesthetics, the performance draws on ritual elements of Javanese
Wayang Kulit shadow puppetry.
Invoking classical Javanese court-dance instilled with the mystical influence of Indonesian trancepossession ritual, Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal’s sinuous transformation is held by Ria Soemardjo’s pure voice
and evocative score suggestive of Javanese gamelan. Performed in the moment, both artists are
transported through time by Paula van Beek’s sublime lighting landscapes and haunting shadow play.
Opals are ancient stones created as the last remnants of water are drained from the land.
Opal Vapour is a mesmerising new contemporary dance work exploring deep connections between human
origins and nature, ceremonial cleansing for purification, rites of passage and embodiment in performance.
Moving fluidly between powerful physical states, Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal balances graceful Javanese
mystical traditions with adventurous contemporary dance territories. Her sinuous transformation is held
by Ria Soemardjo’s pure voice and evocative music score resonating ancient Javanese gamelan. Both
artists are transported through time by Paula van Beek’s sublime lighting landscapes and haunting shadow
play.
Description – 250 words Text
to be used for working up a
press release
In creating this work, the artists have drawn on Jade and Ria’s Australian/Javanese ancestry and have been
inspired by the symbolism, dramatic structure and ritual elements of Javanese Wayang Kulit (shadow
puppet theatre) – a rich and dynamic artform that is continually evolving and adapting.
During examination of the dancer being both the puppet-master and the puppet Jade has explored the
moral and spiritual aesthetics of traditional Javanese court-dance and become curious about the mystical
traditions of Indonesian villages and trance-possession ritual. Reflecting on her engagement with different
cultures and natural environments Jade’s choreography draws on her international dance training and
performance in classical ballet, modern dance, Javanese and Balinese dance, African dance, Japanese
martial arts and Indigenous Australian dance to negotiate the real and the illusion of inhabiting physicality.
It is as though she is pouring water from one vessel to another, empty to full and full to empty,
disappearing whilst leaving traces.
Ria’s unique vocal style, live and recorded music compositions draw on traditional Javanese tunings and
timbres and incorporate voice, viola and textile/paper objects that rustle, scrape and creak. Paula’s
complex lighting design conducts the changing perspectives of the audience and manipulates their
attention towards transforming landscapes that leave layered surface images remaining as ghosts, echoes
and shadows.
About the company – 250
words
JADE DEWI TYAS TUNGGAL is an independent Australian/Javanese dance artist, choreographer, creative
collaborator passionate about the relationship of nature to the body, voice and light and the idea of ritual
performance. She has 19 years of professional dance performance experience, a Masters of Choreography
from Victorian College of the Arts at Melbourne University (2010) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance from
Miami New World School of the Arts at Florida University (2000). Her love of travel and adventure has
facilitated extensive dance art training, professional cultural exchange and performance experience in
Australia, USA, New Zealand, Indonesia, Iceland, Spain, France, Germany, Austria, UK and Taiwan. All her
life journeys influence choreographic explorations of complex contrasts like presence–absence, traditionmodernity, acoustic-electronic and East-West. www.jadedewi.com
RIA SOEMARDJO is a vocalist, musician and composer. Born in Melbourne of Australian/Indonesian
descent, Ria draws on her deep respect for the Javanese musical tradition in her song writing and
collaborative projects. Her distinctive vocal style and ability to absorb a diverse range of musical influences
have led to regular collaborations with other highly respected performers and composers. Ria’s fascination
for exploring voice and the body has led her to train as an Alexander Technique teacher. Currently the only
Australian female exponent of the Javanese classical vocal style, she has trained in central Java and
performs regularly with gamelan groups around Australia. She performs original compositions with her trio
‘Fine Blue Thread’ which melds tabla, cello, viola and voice. Their recordings are available at
www.finebluethread.com.au
PAULA VAN BEEK is an artist dedicated to creating new performance works using collaborative processes.
She has a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand (1998), and a Graduate
Diploma in Animateuring from Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (2006). Paula asserts herself as a
performance maker, director, dramaturg and lighting designer, specialising in light for dance. She has
designed lights for main stage, found spaces and outdoor works as well as tutoring students in how to
‘make with light’. www.paulavanbeek.com
Artist Credits to appear on
promo material
Direction & choreography Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal
Dance performance Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal
Music composition & performance Ria Soemardjo
Textile & costume design Ria Soemardjo
Lighting, AV & set design Paula van Beek
Sound design consultant Kelly Ryall
Performance realisation Helen Herbertson
‘Exuding sensuality from every pore – her strong technique a mere vehicle for her expressive power’
Margaret Jolley, Dance Australia Magazine
‘A unique and mesmerising style of movement’ Cameron Woodhead, The Age
Review Quotes
3 please
‘Ria Soemardjo sings. Her whole body becomes voice. There is a kind of simplicity to her physicality that
makes space for the sound to emerge as pure affect.‘ Philipa Rothfield, Real Time
“This is a celebration of heritage begun with the chime of a bell and hallowed by the melancholy song.”
 Jordan Beth Vincent, The Age
Production History
In 2010 the Arts Centre, Melbourne, commissioned Jade for Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Mix it up! program
to create a 20 minute contemporary Indonesian/Australian dance work. This initial work was performed at
the Fairfax Theatre in collaboration with Paula and Ria. In 2011, the artists developed Opal Vapour during
residencies at Port Macquarie’s Glasshouse Arts Centre, and at the Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart (through
Kultour’s Mobile K program and funded by the Australia Council for the Arts). During a recent residency at
iCAN – Central Java, the trio further refined the themes of the work, and researched the symbolism of
traditional Javanese shadow puppet theatre, court dance and trance rituals.
In 2012 Opal Vapour premiered at the Malthouse Theatre as part of the inaugural Helium program.
Acknowledgements/Logos –
short version
For venue brochures, flyers
Funding & commissioning
credits that need to be on
marketing material – not full
list of thank yous for show
program
Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States with the support of the Australian Government through
Playing Australia and the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Victorian
Government through Arts Victoria. Originally presented with Malthouse Theatre as part of Helium.
Logos: Performing Lines, Mobile States, Aus Co, Arts Victoria, Helium
Toured by Performing Lines for Mobile States with the support of the Australian Government through
Playing Australia and the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, and the Victorian
Government through Arts Victoria. Originally presented with Malthouse Theatre as part of Helium.
Acknowledgements/Logos –
full version
For program
Opal Vapour was originally presented with Malthouse Theatre as part of Helium with support from the
Australia Council, Arts Victoria, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Arts Centre Melbourne, Kultour, Glasshouse Arts
and Entertainment Centre, Salamanca Arts Centre and Indonesia Contemporary Art Network.
Logos: Performing Lines, Mobile States, Aus Co, Arts Victoria, Helium
Warnings EG smoking, hazer,
nudity, language etc
Atmospheric particles (sand)
Duration
50 minutes
Age recommendation
(This is particularly useful if
there’s a potential
school/tertiary audience for
12 years old +
this show)
Website, Facebook Page etc
references
www.opalvapour.com.au
2. FILES: IMAGES, LOGOS & OTHER ATTACHMENTS
Download at:
ALL resources will be available for download from the Performing Lines website:
Go to the Downloads section on the right hand side of the page.
Direct links also included below for images/video.
Logos: zip folder on Performing Lines website page (above link).
Images: on picasa (includes jpeg versions of logos):
Images & Logos
NOTE: To download images from Picasa at hi res: click on image to enlarge, then
use download button rather than right click to get at full resolution.
Image Credit
Paula van Beek
All video links on the Performing Lines website page
Youtube/Vimeo or MP4
Video Links to any video
online, or send MP4 files
Direct links:
5 minute trailer: http://vimeo.com/56542911
JADE DEWI TYAS TUNGGAL is an Australian/Javanese contemporary dance artist, choreographer and creative
collaborator. With a Melbourne University scholarship she achieved High Distinction for her Masters of
Choreography research in solo performance making at Victorian College of the Arts 2009. Her artistic work has
been supported by Australia Council for the Arts, Ian Potter Cultural Trust, Melbourne International Arts
Festival, Performance Space Sydney, Opera House Studio, World Dance Alliance Asia Pacific, Victoria University,
Lucy Guerin Inc, Theatre Works, Newport Substation, Arts Centre Melbourne, Multicultural Arts Victoria and
Kultour.
Bios
Awarded Dux of Sydney’s Newtown High School of the Performing Arts 1995 Jade was granted full scholarship
to Miami's New World School of the Arts and graduated from Florida University with a Bachelor of Dance
Honours 1999. In USA she joined Houlihan & Dancers Company and performed with Bebe Miller, Sophie
Maslow, Ana Vitoria, Sandra Kaufman, Ronald K Brown and Doug Varone. Jade attained a Darmasiswa
scholarship 2004 and studied Indonesian dance and music at Yogyakarta University of the Arts. At Impuls Tanz
Vienna 2006 she was a European Union scholarship recipient and also collaborated with artists from Dasarts,
Amsterdam. During 2010 she sustained her European artistic connections with a tour to Kling & Bang, Iceland;
Performing Artists Forum, France; and Arlequi, Spain.
In Australia Jade has worked with many diverse choreographers and companies including; Bernadette Warlong,
Jason Pitt, Vivienne Rogis, Albert David, Stephen Page, Taurus Ashley, Antony Hamilton, Amelia McQueen,
Jacob Boheme, Nikki Ashby, Martin del Amo, Chunky Move, The Body Cartography Project, Gong Tronic,
Victorian Opera and Mirramu Dance Company. She has created When ever a friend succeeds a little something
in me dies for VCA Dance School and All to get her for Quantum Leap Dance Company. Her solo dance work 6/7
Empty toured nationally in 2011.
Jade has recently returned from working with Indigenous artists, Banula Marika, Nakulma, Dkjakapurra and
Janet Munyarryun, from North East Arnhem Land on the new dance, The Morning Star, which will be presented
with Mirramu Dance Company at the National Art Gallery of Australia in March 2013. www.jadedewi.com
RIA SOEMARDJO is a vocalist, musician and composer. Born in Melbourne of Australian/Indonesian descent, Ria
draws on her deep respect for the Javanese musical tradition in her song writing and collaborative projects. Her
distinctive vocal style and ability to absorb a diverse range of musical influences have led to regular
collaborations with other highly respected performers and composers such as Helen Mountfort, Anne Norman,
Tim Humphries, Madeline Flynn and Adrian Sheriff. Ria performed with Ros Warby in Tower Suites, which
premiered in February 2012. Past collaborations with dancers also include the Tony Yap Company. She
performs original compositions with her trio ‘Fine Blue Thread’ which melds tabla, cello, viola and voice. Their
recordings are available at www.finebluethread.com.au
Performing highlights include Melbourne Recital Centre, Singapore Performing Arts Showcase and the Biwako
Biennale (Japan) 2007 with the Tony Yap Company. Ria has been a featured artist at the Melbourne Festival in
2006 and 2007 and her performances at the Iwaki auditorium have been broadcast on Radio National ‘Music
Deli’ shows. Ria’s fascination for exploring voice and the body has led her to train as an Alexander Technique
teacher. Currently the only Australian female exponent of the Javanese classical vocal style, she has trained in
central Java and performs regularly with gamelan groups around Australia.
PAULA VAN BEEK is an artist dedicated to creating new performance works using collaborative processes. She
has a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand (1998), and a Graduate Diploma in
Animateuring from Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (2006). Paula asserts herself as a performance
maker, director, dramaturg and lighting designer, specialising in light for dance. She has designed lights for main
stage, found spaces and outdoor works as well as tutoring students in how to ‘make with light’.
Paula has a strong, ongoing collaboration with Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal. Together they created Shadow & Ash
(2006), a manipulated space performance installation, and the durational performance Human Flame Forest
(2007) both investigating the relationship of Body and Light. In 2008 Paula designed the lighting environment
for 6/7 Empty, which Jade and Paula toured in 2011. Paula has most recently been working at VCA’s School of
Performing Arts as a creative collaborator with the Post Graduate and Masters students enabling the realisation
of their performance works. www.paulavanbeek.com
Opal Vapour
Carol Flavell Neist
Artshub, May 23, 2013
Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal was commissioned by the Arts Centre, Melbourne, to create a 20-minute
Australian/Indonesian dance piece.
The piece has been developing and growing ever since. It is now a fifty minute group effort involving Tunggal,
the dancer, Ria Soemardjo, musician and Paula van Beek, responsible for the lighting and set design. What
strikes the viewer most immediately is the obvious feeling of teamwork. This is a true collaboration. If any one
of the trio dropped out, one suspects that the piece would not survive in its present form.
The choreography, a fusion of traditional Javanese and contemporary techniques, makes considerable demands
on the performer. Tunggal, as creator, has not spared herself as a dancer. She is onstage for the entire fifty
minute show. Do not be deceived by the middle section, in which she lies down. She is just as active in that
position as when she is on her feet!
Soemardjo is also on stage a great deal, singing, playing bells and/or drums. When she is not on stage, the music
is still hers, provided by an always-appropriate and often very beautiful backing soundscape.
The lighting is nothing short of masterly. A backlit screen made of native Javanese fibre that gives a
watermarked appearance also carries projections of various kinds. The most intriguing element entails
Tunggal’s performance being filmed from directly overhead and simultaneously projected onto the screen.
Reviews in full
The stylization typical of Javanese dance has been replaced with emotional intensity. The performers have
drawn on their Australian/Javanese ancestry and claim to have been inspired by ‘the symbolism, dramatic
structure and ritual elements of Javanese Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet theatre)’. Furthermore, there are
continual references to Javanese culture in the choreography, music and props. Fishing nets, especially woven
by Soemardjo, are brought into play, complemented by piscine movements by Tunggal. Death and rebirth are
inherent in the beginning and ending. And the opal reference? Opals are created when water is removed from
its parent rock.
We are constantly reminded that Java is an island by Tunggal’s being restricted to a dais of only about two
metres by one and half metres. Lit from below, the Perspex-topped dais is at times suggestive of water.
Although in the beginning the dais is covered in fine sand, by the end of the piece it has all been swept onto the
floor, after being combed by the dancer’s hands and feet into deliberate watery, wavy patterns of intriguing
shapes.
The dais, however, is very restrictive. This was no doubt intentional and symbolic, but it did mean that the
choreography was somewhat constrained. Had some of it been shifted to floor level there could have been
more variety. A more overt suggestion of a story might also add interest. Fifty minutes of abstract solo dance is,
perhaps, too long to sustain without a narrative element.
Despite these shortcomings, this is a show well worth the modest admission price. If you have any interest in
Indonesian culture or in fusions involving ethnic dance, you will not want to miss this one. By the time you read
this, the Perth season will be over, but the tour continues.
http://au.artshub.com/au/news-article/reviews/performing-arts/opal-vapour-195455
A box full of culture
Michelle Potter
The Caberra Times, June 18, 2013
The Javanese heritage of Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal, and her recent experiences living and studying in Yogyakarta
in Central Java, are clearly discernible in Opal Vapour. Tyas Tunggal has distilled certain features of Javanese
classical dancing and embedded them into the work, which consists of five distinct sections all performed on a
rectangular box placed centre stage. Some of those features are specifically choreographic allusions to Javanese
dance - intricate hand and wrist movements, for example, or a lifted leg with foot turned up from the ankle, or
the use of a long scarf whose ends are delicately but swiftly flicked into the air. But it is more a Javanese mood
than any choreographic reference that Tyas Tunggal has captured. Opal Vapour takes place in an unhurried
atmosphere. There is nothing that appears crass or uncivilised.
Moody lighting adds a certain mystique and the accompaniment of bells, a viola, snatches of a tinkling gamelan
orchestra and the live singing of Ria Soemardjo, who created the overall sound, adds to an ambience of
restrained elegance.
As the work begins, a human-sized shape wrapped in fabric is lying on the box. Slowly layers of net and other
fabric are drawn off the shape by Soemardjo. It is as if layers of history are being peeled back to reveal the heart
of a culture. Tyas Tunggal is revealed as the carrier of that culture and begins to move.
Of the different sections that follow, all of which are abstract in nature and unnamed, I found the middle one
most captivating, as much for its extraordinary lighting by Paula van Beek as anything else. The rectangular box,
which functions throughout as a small stage, becomes a light box. Its surface glows with a blue light and that
glowing, blue surface is projected on to a back screen. Tyas Tunggal is stretched out on the box and moves from
shape to shape on her small stage. As she does so, her shadow is projected on to the screen and we are privy to
a version of an Asian shadow play. Perhaps what made this section especially appealing was the relationship
between movement and shadow. By placing her light source where she did, apparently shining upwards from
inside the box, and placing her screen at right angles to the surface of the box, the shadows that appeared on
the screen looked quite different from what we could see on the top of the box. Van Beek essentially became a
puppeteer and Tyas Tunggal her puppet, with the puppeteer manipulating our view of the movement. Tyas
Tunggal appeared to be floating in a blue space.
Opal Vapour, although promoted at times as a solo work for Tyas Tunggal, is a three-woman show of
exceptional visual intensity. Soemardjo deserves a special mention not only for her fascinating mixture of
sounds, but for her unique textiles and costumes. They add to the unusual nature of Opal Vapour, which sits
somewhere between a dance performance and a slowly moving installation.
Oh the Beauty
Flloyd Kennedy
Critical Mass, June 13, 2013
There is a lot of talk around the theatre conferences and in the journals these days about ‘trauma theatre’,
which seems to be centred around the belief that if you give audiences an experience of something absolutely
disgusting, painful, or obscenely cruel, they will understand what it feels like to be someone who experiences
that kind of abuse on a regular basis.
Theatre, dance, and music have always been used to engage audiences in tragic, painful, cruel stories—so
nothing new there. The difference is that nowadays the fashion seems to be a race to the bottom, to create the
most unpleasant, ugly kind of performance in an attempt to shock, or stimulate horror. It does not appeal to me
as an effective means of changing the world.
I am far more likely to be moved to a desire to improve humankind’s lot by something as simply wonderful, and
magically beautiful as Opal Vapour, currently in the Visy Theatre, Brisbane Powerhouse.
Three women, a dancer, a musician/singer and a lighting designer, offer the most intense experience of joy,
sorrow, pain and pleasure. They use a combination of Javanese traditional and contemporary dance and music
in a stunningly minimalist, yet multi-faceted, light-scape. Dancer Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal moves with exquisite
grace and precision upon a sand-covered light box, accompanied by the gorgeous ululating voice of Ria
Soemardjo (also playing several instruments), with Paula van Beek‘s imaginative lighting design providing a
story in shadow play on a shimmering fabric screen.
I have no idea what specific story these extraordinary young women are telling, if any. It doesn’t matter. The
intensity, the ‘deep practice’ as my theatre buddy (an academic, a theatre maker, and a dedicated critic of
trauma theatre) calls it, the sheer virtuosity shared in this space is powerfully moving and life-enhancing.
They are performing until Saturday. Unmissable.
http://www.criticalmassblog.net/2012/?p=2797
Gem of a show fuses cultures
Jo Pickup
The West Australian, May 17, 2013
It's not often you encounter a contemporary performance so deeply embedded in the ancient and the sacred as
Opal Vapour, by dancer-choreographer Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal and singer-composer Ria Soemardjo.
This work is essentially a meditative duet between the dancing of Dewi Tyas Tunggal and Soemardjo's vocals.
Both performers' deep respect for their shared Australian-Indonesian heritage lies at the heart of this stirring
piece.
Physically, Opal Vapour is very slow moving. From the opening scene, in which Soemardjo solemnly enters,
chiming a candelabra of bells, there is a sense of spirits from another time and place being called to the stage.
Before long, this sense of the spiritual is embodied by Dewi Tyas Tunggal, as the dancer awakens from her
entombed slumber, contorting her body with an understated strength and minute attention that reveals her
exceptional skill as a performer.
As her movements grow louder, the feelings of unease in the audience awaken, as it dawns on us that she is in
fact suffering a kind of exorcism - perhaps the need to express deep-seated and long-buried stories.
From here, the show fuses ritualised Javanese dance and song with contemporary visual codes and lighting
elements (created by designer Paula van Beek). Watching the shadows and moving-image "mirrors" of the lone
dancer's body projected above her as she moves through trance-like sequences adds a new dimension to the
work, but it does not necessarily deepen its impact - at least in the first half.
In the second half, the tone shifts from feelings of "the possessed" to a state of tranquillity and a feeling of
spiritual cleansing. At this point, the moving image - a shadow projection of the dancer's protracted, fluid
movements in real time - is truly mesmerising and echoes the strange state of peaceful melancholy so often
associated with the divine.
Opal Vapour is quietly entertaining but requires some patience because of its sober pace and haunting vocal
interludes. However, the artists' profound respect for their cultural and spiritual heritage is resounding.
Opal Vapour ends tomorrow.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/17208684/gem-of-a-show-fusescultures/
Indonesian Australian dance 'Opal Vapour' a graceful thing of beauty
Peter Burdon
Adelaidenow, May 10, 2013
The Javanese/Australian dancer Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal's evolving interest in traditional Indonesian dance has
borne exotic fruit indeed in Opal Vapour.
The performance overlays the creation of the beautiful opal though the medium of water, and its evaporation,
repeated over the generations, with the spirituality and mysticism of kejawen and other regional religious
beliefs and practices.
Beginning in darkness, tiny sounds of gamelan reverberate in the cavernous acoustic of the Waterside Workers'
Hall.
A lone voice, composer/performer Ria Soemardjo, sings - actually, intones would be better - a soulful melody,
and as the illumination very slowly rises, a keenly lit dais is revealed, every inch a catafalque with the human
form covered in many layers of rich and rustic fabric.
The removal of these, highly ritualised, is but one in a continuum of entrancing episodes that had the audience
riveted right through to the end.
Tunggal's dance is intelligent, graceful and controlled, a rare combination at the best of times and rarer still in a
solo performer. It's also attractive and accessible, and strongly supported by the mixed-media design elements
by Paula van Beek, and the sense of aridity and ancientness conjured up by a welter of dust.
The desire to reach out to cultural roots, and to draw wide inspiration, is a lofty enough aspiration in any artist,
but all too often lacks in the execution.
Not so Opal Vapour, which scores on every account.
http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/arts/indonesian-australian-dance-opal-vapour-a-gracefulthing-of-beauty/story-fn503imo-1226639650211
Opal Vapour
Barry Lenny
Glam Adelaide, May 9, 2013
This is a sensational work that encompasses far more than a mere blend of Javanese and contemporary
Western dance, performed to both live and recorded music. There is a wonderfully ethereal feeling about the
work, which is due to the deep cultural and religious meanings behind the performance which both inform and
inspire it.
Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal is both the dancer and the choreographer, as well as the director, for this incredible
production. She shifts from strongly contemporary dance and floor work, with Indonesian influences, right
through to strongly Javanese dance, with western influences, and encompasses a wide range of points between
these two extremes.
Multi-talented musician, Ria Soemardjo, provides vocals, the sounds of a specially made bell tree, shaken as she
walks, a frame drum, and viola. She has also added recorded music, the distinctive sounds of a Gamelan
orchestra featuring regularly.
There is, though, a third performer who, although not seen personally, provides the exquisite lighting and live
projected images without which this performance would not be possible. Paula van Beek’s lighting is an integral
part of the performance, not just a wash of light so that we can see the other two.
The piece begins with a body, draped with layers of cloth, laying on a rectangular plinth, which the singer slowly
and ritualistically uncovers, layer by layer, as the performance will gradually uncover the many layers of
symbolism, history and culture encapsulated within it. The use of the projected video even references Wayang
Kulit, traditional shadow puppetry, during the Ghost River sequence.
The combination of the many dance styles and techniques, that all work perfectly together in spite of what
seems like a huge diversity, the atmospheric and evocative music, and the astoundingly effective lighting and
video, all adds up to an almost overwhelming aural and visual treat for the senses.
So enthralled was the audience that one could barely here any breathing, and it seemed as though nobody
moved a muscle the entire time. Even as the last of the light faded on the motionless dancer, and the final dying
note of the departing vocalist ended, there was total silence for several more seconds before anybody dared to
break the moment with applause. When it did come, the applause was hugely enthusiastic, appreciative, and
extended.
This is an exceptional piece that goes well past being a multi-cultural dance performance, with layer after layer
revealing more and more as it progresses. Don’t waste a moment booking to see this work, which has far too
few performances, and ends this weekend. You may well want to see it more than once.
http://www.glamadelaide.com.au/main/review-opal-vapour/