Lynne's Theatre Notes

  Wearing my Dance Informa hat ...  https://dancemagazine.com.au/2021/08/melbourne-international-film-festivals-bodies-in-motion-dance-on-film/ Streaming on  miff.com.au .  15 August 2021.  As part of the Melbourne International Film Festival, there was a special screening of short dance films called  Bodies in Motion .  In  The Prelude , presented by Phillip Adams BalletLab and US choreographer Walter Dundervill, there is a great concentration on texture — of drapes, of the bedding (cloth of gold that becomes tied up sculptures). The featured dancer, Michelle Heaven, is dressed in green and we see her barefoot. There are flowing movements of both the dancer and the materials. At one point, she apparently creates a shrine like a cradle. She sits in a chair and is interviewed about the making of the film, which has a rumbling, oppressive soundtrack. It ends with her posed in a skin coloured leotard.  In  As One  by Jessie O...

  Wearing my DanceInforma hat ... https://dancemagazine.com.au/2021/08/dance-lens-highlights-dance-films-from-australia-and-internationally/ Dancehouse, Melbourne.  August 2021.  Dance (Lens) is a most exciting festival of screen dance organised by Dancehouse in Melbourne. Thirty-three short works are included, both Australian and international, each running a maximum of approximately 40 minutes.  It is an impressive overview of world dance at the moment. There are some gripping, fascinating works, while others are really strange and quite bizarre. A common thread is a concentration on texture (of costume perhaps, or of the landscape, for example) with some fabulous photography, and a big feature as well is the focus on tiny hand movements. All sorts, shapes and sizes of bodies are included, ranging from disabled to stilt walkers and professionally trained dancers. Various dance styles are used, from contemporary to Butoh to A-line and assorted blends. There is a con...

 https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/bee-stung-lips-the-story-of-an-idiosyncratic-australian-artist/ BOOKS & WRITING ,  VISUAL ARTS BEE STUNG LIPS : THE STORY OF AN IDIOSYNCRATIC AUSTRALIAN ARTIST 29 AUGUST 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT Barbara Hanrahan (1939 -1991) from Adelaide is regarded as one of Australia’s idiosyncratic artists who lived and worked in Adelaide, London and Melbourne.  Her father passed away when she was one and she was raised, an only child, by her mother, a commercial artist. .Hanrahan studied at the South Australian School of Art from 1957-1962. She began printmaking in 1960 and until 1963 worked part-time with Udo Sellbach and Karen Schepers. From 1963- 1964 she continued her studies at the Central School of Art in London, gaining a Diploma in Etching with distinction. She continued studying and working there for another year earning post-diploma skills in lithography, silk screening ,etching and wood engraving. From 1961-...

 Like wow https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/australian-chamber-orchestra-tabula-rosa/ AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA : TABULA RASA 21 AUGUST 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT Australian Chamber Orchestra ‘Tabula Rasa’ This spectacular, compelling, rather overwhelming concert was another superb performance as part of their Studiocast online series by the Australian Chamber Orchestra led by  Richard Tognetti . It was filmed at the Hordern Pavilion with imagery and video projections by the   Jon Frank Beizj Studio  and features magnificent playing of great intensity. From the spiky opening bars of Arvo Part’s TABULA RASA we are catapulted into a surging, volcanic world. The imagery and projections are of water – at times it appears the Orchestra is submerged, with huge crashing waves.At other times, there are pink clouds. After the sharp spiky string of the opening the piano and strings were melancholic.A pulsating, repeated emphatic dominant rhythm...

 https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/melbourne-international-film-festival-girls-museum/ CINEMA MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL : GIRLS-MUSEUM 19 AUGUST 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT As part of the Melbourne International Film Festival GIRLS-MUSEUM, directed and produced  by Shelly Silver is screening. It is set in the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts and screens with English subtitles. Sixteen girls aged between seven and nineteen analyse some of the various works with offbeat, astute , and at times quite original reactions. There are fluid panning shots of the Museum’s permanent exhibition , some fabulous close ups of some painting’s brushstrokes and texture , and/or texture of the material depicted ,and often static shots where the girl stands in front of the particular work and comments on it . The teenage girls shown by US film-maker and artist  Shelly Silver  often use a gender fluid language that would have been surprising if used even fiv...

 Greetings from locked down Sydney .Yes dear readers I am back I have just been extra busy with reviews and other things . Don't worry more to come  Lynne 

https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/richard-james-allen-more-lies-a-maze-too-far/  RICHARD JAMES ALLEN : MORE LIES : A MAZE TOO FAR 9 AUGUST 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT “ I am the story. Don’t ask me if I am true” . The latest book by Richard James Allen, his first novel, as distinct from poetry – blurs truth, time and reality.  Allen is a contemporary actor poet, filmmaker and dancer He has been artistic director of the Poets Union Inc. and was founding director of the Australian Poetry Festival.With Karen Pearlman he was co-director of  That Was Fast  in New York and  Tasdance  and now  The Physical TV Company , one work of which is featured in Dancehouse’s  Dance Lens  series, currently screening. Allen has published twelve books, poetry, short fiction and performance texts. MORE LIES  is a small, rather thin book, divided into thirty three short chapters and is set in New York. Is it all a dream ? Or ?...

 https://www.sydneyartsguide.com.au/australian-haydn-ensemble-sacro-amor-a-glorious-concert/ AUSTRALIAN HAYDN ENSEMBLE : SACRO AMOR : A GLORIOUS CONCERT 9 AUGUST 2021   LYNNE LANCASTER   LEAVE A COMMENT A gloriously crafted filmed concert, this is the latest offering from the Australian Haydn Ensemble, as part of digital events presented by Riverside Theatres Digital. Skye McIntosh  the Artistic Director leads on violin and is joined by Matthew Greco  on violin,  Karina Schmitz  on viola,  Anton Baba  on cello,  Bonita Williams  on basso,  Simon Martyn Ellis  on theorbo and Anthony Abouhamad  on organ. A very atmospheric film, under the direction of McIntosh it features some highly accomplished, precise yet passionate playing and it is also graced by the presence of soprano Celeste Lazarenko and flautist Melissa Farrow on transverse flute.The concert is a mix of music by Vivaldi and Hasse and all theNplayers...