IF______WAS______ — Dancenorth

Overview

When it comes to expressing emotion, don't underestimate the power of fancy footwork. Whether on the stage or on the screen, there's a reason that dance performances and musicals frequently build up to a frenzied display of moving and grooving: sometimes, words just won't do.

As choreographers, Dancenorth's Stephanie Lake and Ross McCormack put that theory to the test on a daily basis — and now they're going to do so once more in their new combined show. Fresh from a premiere season at Brisbane's Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, IF______WAS______ investigates their chosen profession, their lives to date and their unique responses to their lived experiences in four performances at The Substation.

Raw and stripped back to just the essentials, the end result is a sensory representation of Lake and McCormack's existence and knowledge thus far, and it's also the solution to a puzzle. Dancenorth artistic director Kyle Page only allowed them to work with one sound score, one costume pattern and one source of lighting each, and to a set duration — and in doing just that, the duo not only convey their inner thoughts and feelings, but their individuality.