S/WORDS and Unfolding

Overview

Lewis Major, of French, Bungandidj, Jewish, Ngarrindjeri and English heritage, was born and raised on a sheep farm in the state’s South East. Clearly, he was pre-destined for a career in experimental dance theatre. We can’t attest to his shearing prowess (excellent, by all reports), but we can confidently promise that this young choreographer, one of only two South Australians shortlisted for the prestigious Keir Choreographic Award, is a hot emerging talent. His early work, including his celebrated Epilogue, has already been presented in major venues in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mexico, Brazil, London and New York.

This new double bill is a great way of sampling what he’s been up to. Unfolding melds fluid dance with shifting 3D polynomial animations by creative coder Fausto Brusamolino and it features costumes created in Adelaide by local atelier, Naomi Murrell Studios. A much darker, deeply theatrical work, S/WORDS postulates a flung-together tribe of performers locked in a theatre as the world burns outside; six dancers in search of the rules, rituals and rites that still carry meaning and value.

Both pieces are scored by James Peter Brown, composer and sound designer for projects as diverse as Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake and the Fallout series of games.