
a love of subtle deceit
Choreography: |
John Utans |
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Lighting design
conceived by :
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David Whitworth and John Utans |
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Music :
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Gavin Bryars |
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Costume design : |
Shaaron Boughen |
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Performed by : |
Leigh Warren
and Dancers
Adelaide 2002 |
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The Queensland Ballet Company
Brisbane 2000
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane 1999
Lighting design originally conceived by
David Whitworth & John Utans
a love of subtle deceit was first choreographed on
and performed by students at QUT (1999). It was then
re-mounted and performed by the Queensland Ballet Company
(2000). The piece was then developed and extended and
performed by Leigh Warren and Dancers (2002).
It's a play on words and dancing. Movement phrases
are treated like sentences, altering the words and splicing
phrases within each other. A different accent in a different
place evokes a whole new meaning and nuance. For example,
arm movements taken away or added on to different steps
'sound' completely different, Relationships between
the dancers, the music and the space come and go like
voices in another room.
Photographs by Alex Makeyev © 2002
LOVE, DECEIT & 81 QUESTIONS
Alan Brissenden
The Australian August 30, 2002.
John Utans has produced a little winner in A Love of
Subtle Deceit, the first of two new pieces making up
this program. Cleverly, he exploits a restricted vocabulary
based on arching stretches, slow turns and wrap around
arms, and focuses attention on the choreography's fluid
physicality by making the seven dancers facially impassive.
Always pleasing to the eye, the accumulation of patterned
motion climaxes in a counterpoint sequence for three
couples. A fourth man, isolated, not rejected, makes
a chorus-like comment through his agitated movement.
The narrative in the program notes eluded me, but it
was enough to enjoy the languid entwinings of Rachel
Jenson and Peter Furness, the lyricism of the mercurial
Dion Hastie and the precision of Glen McCurley.
Coherent, interesting and satisfying, A Love of Subtle
Deceit has staying power.
Matt Byrne
The Sunday Mail Adelaide August 25, 2002.
John Utans'a love of subtle deceit is an exercise
in intertwined bodies and emotions, with constantly
changing situations and relationships that plays upon
words and subtle movements. The piece is a series of
carefully sculptured episodes inviting us to watch the
process as much as the dancers themselves.
Katherine Goode
The Advertiser August 26, 2002
A Love of Subtle Deceit, choreographed by John Utans,
is highly abstract with clean, elegant lines and a classical
framework.[
] the austere Deceit ultimately proves
the far richer and more satisfying work.[of the program]
Deceit has been constructed with mathematical precision
as the dancers intersect and crosscut in a series of
linear patterns. In one sequence, the dancers form a
diagonal line across the stage, flexing arms and legs
and rolling over in a continuous flowing movement. Deceit
subtly explores relationships as the dancers form brief
alliances, break up and move on to new partners. The
fragility and unpredictability of the love game is neatly
paralleled with a voice-over describing the chance elements
in playing cards. Glen McCurley and Kim Hales-McCarthur
are particularly moving as a wary and battle-scarred
couple.
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