Clouds Above Berlin

Overview

It is a dark, alternate world that Antony Hamilton and Melanie Lane manifest in their Spring Dance double-bill, Clouds Above Berlin. This pair of Australian expats have combined two pieces — Lane's solo Tilted Fawn and Hamilton's duet Black Project 1 — unifying them with a shared attention to detail and tight control of their palettes.

In Tilted Fawn, Lane composes a sonic architecture using masked tape recorders, building up a score by UK electronic artist Clark. Rafael Bonachela, artistic director of the Sydney Dance Company and curator of Spring Dance 2012, calls this work intense and cerebral, so expect abstract movement poetry here.

While also abstract, Black Project 1 links Hamilton's popping movements with Olaf Meyer's light projections to create a world of primitive — or, suggests Bonachela, post-apocalyptic — creatures illustrating their existence.

Both pieces that compose Clouds Above Berlin are more than dance dressed with set, sound and lights; they are sculptures in time, and eager to be viewed as such.