Ros Warby Wings Her Way Into DTW

May 4, 2009 by iDANZ Today
Filed under iDANZ Critix Corner -Dance Reviews, Performance Art - Dance

Australian choreographer Ros Warby performs at Dance Theater Workshop in her extremely well crafted solo, Monumental. A tight collaboration with video artist Margie Medlin and composer Helen Mountfort, the work pulls inspiration from the classical ballet archetypes of Swan and Soldier. The result is a riveting mixture of animalistic awkwardness and human self-awareness, creating an oddly voyeuristic pleasure akin to watching Animal Planet.

Warby appears on a stark stage, striking, in a white feathered tutu and skull cap; her long, sleek legs exposed. Her movements cover the full spectrum of birdlike, from the extremely stylized swanlake-esque to the almost literal head-bobs and body contortions; but never does she waver in her precision. It’s clear that every movement has been chosen and crafted. Her sinewy long limbs are mesmerizing.

The video projections make Warby rarely seem alone in the space as she is joined by images of birds flying and diving into the water, a close-up of an owl moving it’s neck, or a duck awkwardly waddling across the beach. Warby herself is also captured on film, often in an extreme close-up of a single body part, but sometimes in such a lifelike size that it’s hard to tell the difference between video and dancer. In one amazing moment, shot from above, her solo becomes a beautiful duet with her doppelgänger.

There are moments with no video or score which leave Warby exposed in the silence in an almost uncomfortable manner. She performs a deconstructed “Swan Lake” on a long diagonal with incredible fluidity and skill before exiting the stage, leaving the audience to bask in the grainy black and white footage for a moment.

When Warby reappears, she is now the Soldier; strong, silly, and a little sexy (even with pants covering her hot legs). She vocalizes sounds that are nonsensical, but so close to the edge of language we’re left grasping for meaning. Tipping her hat as if to let us in on the joke, she marches through the space with passion but no purpose until, again, she leaves.

When she reenters the stage, she is again a Swan; though,this time the stronger, more fearsome Black Swan. Her movement as the Black Swan is more angular and powerful. The video moves and shifts like pieces of a set, at one point framing Warby with a giant projection of her feet as she stares out in challenge from between them. Here again, her lovely legs become the focus; never reaching above her waist, but always moving with great precision and articulation.

Warby’s solo draws deeply from the world of birds and, though at times it is monotonous, her incredible attention to detail and investigation is apparent. In the final image, Warby leans her face into a pool of light; as the rest of the stage falls into darkness, the light on her face casts weird shadows. Suddenly, it becomes clear that she looks like a bird. She really IS a bird! No wonder she is so interested in this investigation!