A visceral ride in a leaky boat

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This was published 4 years ago

A visceral ride in a leaky boat

By Kim Dunphy

DANCE MASSIVE

Jill Orr in Dark Night.

Jill Orr in Dark Night.Credit: Gregory Lorenzutti

DARK NIGHT ★★★★½
Jill Orr, Abbotsford Convent, March 21-23

Jill Orr’s solo performance in Dark Night was compelling, beginning with the intense flow of movement in the opening scene. She stood self-contained in a pine-boat carcass, pitched atop a huge pile of redolent humus, simultaneously gliding and stationary.

Nocturnal animals loudly announced their presence – birds, crickets and bats – in a soundscape of the natural world. This was comforting in its liveliness and diversity, in a time of diminishing animal species. But underpinning it, a low-toned rumble – the type of sound that can reactivate the distress of trauma survivors – intensified and then, mercifully, abated.

Orr is a commanding presence.

Orr is a commanding presence.Credit: Gregory Lorenzutti

Dark Night was a total Sensurround experience, with the transfixing movement and set enhanced by intensifying odours of earth, soil and pine throughout.

The show was developed as a response to “the terrible fate of asylum seekers arriving by boat”, and sought to explore “crumbling humanitarian ideals of a world in crisis”. It emerged from an installation conceived by Orr for the inaugural Venice Performance Art Week.

Orr atop her boat.

Orr atop her boat.Credit: Gregory Lorenzutti

My experience was of greater pleasure in the movement, set and soundscape than this synopsis of bleak traumas might have led me to expect. It was a long journey but one that seemed in Orr’s control, with the destination held firmly in sight.

Difficulties were evident, however. One sequence of twitching, writhing movement evoked strong discomfort in my own body, clearly signalling experiences of deep distress and its aftermath.

Orr, as ever, was a commanding performer with an intense, focused presence.

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