Described as an experimental dance project, Brisbane creative Jeremy Neideck and his Motherboard Productions company have worked with dancers from Brisbane and Seoul to bring 대홍수 (daehongsu) Deluge to the Brisbane Festival. The work explores themes of ritual and natural disaster, with a focus on water and the 2011 Brisbane floods.
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It's obvious a great deal of thought has gone into the production. It starts slowly - for the first 20 minutes, the performers simply offer the audience tea. This sets the scene for a deliberate and considered piece, but results in some frustration. When will the action start?
Unfortunately, this is a pace maintained throughout. The majority of scenes are visually arresting, but lengthy and repetitive. They certainly evoke ritual, but at the cost of losing the audience's attention. "Is this a prank?" muttered a woman sitting nearby. Perhaps she was cranky because she hadn't been given any tea.
There is certainly some beautiful staging. Wooden posts call to mind pontoons submerged in a swollen river, strobe lighting and a fog machine create a particularly effective body of water, and moments when the measured choreography erupts into a frenzy of movement are genuinely exciting. Even so, these don't seem to be enough to engage the majority of the audience in the long term.
If you're a contemporary dance enthusiast, you may get a great deal out of this performance. Sadly, though, it's simply not accessible to a wider audience.
대홍수 (daehongsu) Deluge plays at the Brisbane Powerhouse until September 20. Tickets are $28/$22 available online.
Amy Currie is a public servant from Petrie Terrace. She is a member of the Brisbane Times street review team for the 2014 Brisbane Festival.
