Phoebe and Julia Robinson’s Quiet Listening Exercises was first shown at last year’s Next Wave Festival, and is a perfect fit here. Audience members are seated individually around the playing space, each provided with a separate set of headphones through which a glittering, crisp electronic score is piped. The 2 dancers play out a series of minimalist interactions and disengagements, occasionally gesturing towards tiny dramas while at other times refusing the viewer access into their private worlds. It certainly helps that the 2 are sisters, as the familiarity between them adds an extra layer to the work which oftens hints at childhood imagination and past stories. Moreover, I couldn’t help but remove my headset at one point and was startled to find the sisters dancing in silence, in an aural space entirely distinct from that provided the audience. This is a daring work, incorporating long moments of stillness, darkness, and quiet, an “exercise” in which the audience is given the chance to practice the skill of active contemplation.
3D dance dramaturgy and design, curator Dianne Reid, Dancehouse, July 6-7
RealTime issue #69 Oct-Nov 2005 pg. 14
© John Bailey; for permission to reproduce apply to [email protected]