Torque Show: Malmo

Torque Show
Adelaide Festival of Arts
Waterside, Port Adelaide
March

Torque Show is a new dance theatre company formed by performers Ingrid Weisfelt and Vincent Crowley with director Ross Ganf, and Malmö, which premiered in Melbourne last year, is the group’s maiden work. Crowley and Weisfelt are veterans of dance theatre, having danced with Meryl Tankard’s ADT and TanzTheater Basel as well as other European dance theatre collectives. Their background is evident in Malmö in their equal facility with dance and acting, their ability to craft emotionally wrought and visually arresting images, and their deft use of performance space.

Audience participation is built into the work from the outset. As audience members arrive in the foyer they are given name tags, and Weisfelt and Crowley mingle, greeting them by name and introducing themselves. Once inside the cavernous performance space, the former Waterside Workers of Australia Hall, audience members are seated on lightweight stools by the performers and given an individual copy of a satirical home renovation magazine entitled Malmö, after the Swedish city in which the HQ of Ikea is located. The magazine serves as the reference point for the home beautiful fantasy that the show interrogates, and at various points we are directed to read specific pages.

The central conceit of the piece is that we are being welcomed into their new home or home renovation, but there is no actual structure, only a shared fantasy and a plan marked out with gaffa tape on the floor. We follow them around the space as they articulate their vision for their home, repeating variations on the aspirational mantra that your house is a reflection of who you are. We also follow the arc of their fantasy from their initial passionate commitment to the project through the inevitable conflicts and relationship breakdown, which culminates in Weisfelt attacking Crowley with power tools. In another entertaining sequence audience members are enlisted to create a 3D version of the house, acting as swinging doors, windows, spas and ensuites and even a feature wall of blondes, waving like “wheat in a field,” which is just what the architect ordered, according to Crowley.

Elegantly performed contemporary dance sequences enact the growing tension that belies the besotted clichés that come out of their mouths. Crowley is particularly effective with his manic articulation of real estate jargon; he reminds me uncannily of Bob Downe, albeit spruiking real estate instead of hair care products. The rank materialism of the couple’s dream is highlighted when their child joins them.   Her questions and remarks point up the hollowness of her parents’ aspirations. Throughout Nick Roux’s score adds menacing undertones, as does Chris Petridis’s lighting.

However, the ending falls short: the child simply asks them to play cards with her, and they are drawn away from their manic nest building to enjoy this simple family pleasure. Something with more dramatic impact seems required at this point; the audience were not quite sure that the work had ended and it felt anti-climatic.

Nevertheless, this is an entertaining and thought-provoking work, marking an impressive debut. With two more works planned, Torque Show look like they will be a terrific addition to the Australian dance-theatre scene.

- Maggie Tonkin