Connectedness - being inter-connected or disconnected - is a reality of society today. Do we engage, disengage, be part of the many, or one of the few?
''Search Engine'' explores these ideas and relationships in Footnote's latest season of three works.
A small yet sellout audience shared an intimate evening with the company of five dancers: Georgia Beechey-Gradwell, Tyler Carney, Joshua Faleatua, Adam Naughton and Anu Khapung.
For the performance at the Regent Theatre, Footnote had their audience join them on the stage, making for an almost immersive and certainly engaging experience. The stage was stripped entirely, everything laid bare to be seen and enjoyed. The dancers perform surrounded by the audience left, right and up stage, and downstage they are confined by a large screen. The risk with this approach is that there is very little room for error.
Night Swim (Rose Philpott) is a dance between two people, Adam and Georgia, who at times perform in unison, and at others to their own timing. Are these two people supposed to be seen as a couple? Can they simply be seen as their individual selves, or are they a mirror of one another?
For me, the second piece, Home Sweet Home, (Tupua Tigafua) was the standout. It featured Carney, Faleatua and Khapung, who was an absolute pleasure to watch; so fluid and with a natural ease that made it difficult to focus on anyone other than her. The piece itself was endearing and reflective.
Dys-connect (Lauren Langlois) saw all five dancers perform in a piece that explores the (conscious or unconscious) need for one another.
''Search Engine'' provokes the audience to consider the level to which we have allowed technology to rule us, but on a baser level, perhaps it reminds us of the value of personal interaction and relationships.
-By Penny Neilson
