Contemporary dance highlights escapist myth
By Fiona Carnes and Kevin L'Huillier
HOBART — Tasmania was treated to a contemporary dance double bill between May 7 and 10 in the Peacock Theatre.
Looking for Flowers opened the show by combining 15 pieces of dance movement set to a musical score using styles from Celtic to European folk music. The play is choreographed and directed by Jonathon Rees Osbourne who, with dancers Natasha Middleton and David O'Neile, tells a story of three travellers and their quest for a better life. After much work, hardship and frustration they look to each other to find hope and joy.
Stargazing, presented by the Two Turns dance project and directed by Annette Downs, followed. The dancers, Michael O'Donoghue, Rees Osbourne and Wendy McPhee, came on stage to the Walt Disney theme, "When you wish upon a Star, anything your heart desires will come true". They offered a humorous and thought provoking look at how women's and men's magazines lead us into a world of fantasy and deception. We all may laugh at the actions of the rich and famous, but in the end we think of ourselves and how we are perceived by others. As Tom Jones bellowed "It's not unusual", we were left to ponder whether we were all dreaming another's dreams.