Aboutabout

Description:

In Aboutabout, Jane Ellison, Peter Bingham, and Helen Clarke animate a hollow papier maché sculpture so that it resembles an insect-like organism or human breast. In full bodysuits, the dancers, hidden underneath the carapace, move about the stage in clumsy unison, trying to manoeuvre their shared form. A soundtrack plays the country bluegrass folk tunes “The Custom Made Woman Blues,” and “Don’t Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There,” by Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens. 

The performers eventually separate from the shell, roll around freely, bump into each other, and stand up. They wiggle sporadically to shed their skins, extracting their heads and arms from their bodysuits. Fully released, they move in unison, then move each other, as if learning how to function both individually and collectively. Heads, hands, fingers and tongues gesture with curious exaggeration, exploring new body movements. 

Presented as part of the Living Art Performance Festival.