'Mesmerising' 'Original' '4.5 stars' Dance Hub Australia

Talented choreographer and company director Annalouise Paul, has delivered a polished and innovative work that explores racial identity and discord from an all seeing, wide angled perspective. The end result is a perceptive, entertaining and insightful work that showcases contemporary multicultural dance theatre in a unique and original context.

MOTHER TONGUE OPENS AT BANGARRA

The Theatre of Rhythm and Dance opened their highly anticipated third work entitled Mother Tongue this week . The mesmerising collaboration of dance, movement, sacred geometry and body percussion moves the audience through a kaleidoscope of ethnic diversity, as the dynamic piece creatively explores the interplay between different cultures.

Talented choreographer and company director Annalouise Paul, has delivered a polished and innovative work that explores racial identity and discord from an all seeing, wide angled perspective.

The distinctive use of live drumming, body percussion, traditional bells and indigenous seed rattles intertwines beautifully with unique rifts of traditional language and dialects.

The instalment is visually enriching , and is enhanced by the symbolic lighting and rhythms. Pauls choreography delves into the complexities of multiculturalism in a fascinating blend of ethnicity and styles that at times complement and diverge from one another

This variance and diversity between contemporary and tradition technique works well. Classical Indian hand gestures (Govind Pillai) coupled with lively slapping and stomping African movements (lucky Lartey) produces a rare blending of expression. Spiritually charged Indigenous dancing (Andrea Adidi) shares the stage with Asian stylised movements ( Aletta Fauzi ) to provide an eloquent mix of cross cultural styles that independently transfix the audience. Overall the effect is eclectic, thought provoking and striking in its delivery.
Mother Tongue features a highly accomplished group of performers from Torres Strait Islands, Polynesia, Brazil, Ghana, India, Chile and Indonesian backgrounds. The final performance in the trilogy- Conversations in Rhythm and Dance comes after seven years in the making, and involved a team of twenty five artists in the creative process. The end result is a perceptive, entertaining and insightful work that showcases contemporary multicultural dance theatre in a unique and original context.

Mother Tongue runs for a three night season at Bangarra Dance Theatre from the 3rd of September until the final show on Friday 5th at 7.30 pm.

Reviewer: Kim Metcalfe