Arts House and Ros Warby
25 February 2012
North Melbourne Town Hall
to 26 February
The Arts House 2012 season begins with Tower Suites, the new work by Ros Warby, Margie Medlin and Helen Mountfort.
Arts House is the City of Melbourne's contemporary arts initiative, which "values arts and culture that help create a world where people are actively engaged, aware and empowered to participate, politically and culturally, to make positive change". This results in a supported program of local and international art that encourages risk taking and can too easily be missed in Melbourne's never-stop arts calendar. Rule of thumb, if it's in the Arts House program, it's worth giving a go.
Despite awards and critical love, dancer Warby is better known overseas than in her home town of Melbourne. She's been working for 20 years with designer/film maker Medlin and composer/cellist Montfort (best known for her work with the unforgettable Not Drowning Waving and My Friend the Chocolate Cake).
Their interplay between disciplines continues to create work that makes it almost impossible to separate one from the other. For Tower Suites, they're joined by vocalist Ria Soemardjo with the the balanced trio becoming a stable quartet in a piece, possibly, about finding balance and stability in our relationships with each other and our worlds.
It's not open to an easy reading, but its fluidity and delicate humour reflect the trust and subtlety that develops over such long-time creative relationship. And it's a simple joy to watch a work that it beautiful for and in itself, without reason or reading, and to be part of an experience that comes from the hearts and minds of its creators without compromise or any sense of censorship.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
