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Liquid Skin | The 499th Day
Liquid Skin | The 499th Day

Paper Man & 499th Day: Reviews

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Last Updated on Thursday, 03 May 2012 02:17 Written by Liquid Skin

Melbourne Fringe Festival Review, Herald Sun "Rochelle Carmichael's work is Fringe in budget only. If she had one-tenth of the time and money that Philippe Genty has to create a work, she'd be bigger than (Lion King director) Julie Taymor." Chris Boyd Herald Sun, Friday, October 1, 2010.

http://dancereviewsmelbourne.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/paper-man-and-499th-day.html

I don’t think of choreographer Rochelle Carmichael as a fringe artist. She has been diligently making dances for close to two decades, but often under the radar. Perhaps this is because the style of her work sits outside of the fashionable Melbourne post modern/ highly conceptual/self-referential style. In recent years, she has been presenting off the beaten path at Theatreworks. The double bill she offered for Melbourne Fringe contained two wildly different pieces. They didn’t sit that smoothly next to each other, but both had promising elements with considered structures.

Paper Man was a surreal, character driven piece - a three hander for a man (Taurus Ashley) in a big paper suit, a wide-eyed, youthful female (Kelly Way) and a cluster of red helium balloons attached to a circle of white tulle. It was whimsical, with a touch of a European circus or puppetry tradition (in no small part due to the music by Yann Tiersen from the Amelie soundtrack.) Using simple props like a line of stools, a folding screen and scattered books and clothes, it was full of narrative suggestions and strands of strong theatrical ideas. Elements like Paper Man methodically tearing his puffy white paper suit off of himself and the balloons allowing the meshy fabric to dance and float freely were visuals that could continue to develop.  

The second piece, The 499th Day, was a substantial, abstract duet that never stopped moving for 25 minutes, all to the familiar sounds of Phillip Glass. Wearing removable wings and with a single long peacock feather painted on each of their simple black costumes, the two dancers - Way and Anna Simm - competently delivered the rolling and spiralling motifs of the piece. As is often  its style, Carmichael’s vocabulary consisted of curvaceous, powerful full-bodied movements. There were also many quieter, thoughtful moments with the women in their own separate spaces and projecting inward. Way and Simm were technically proficient - it was not an easy piece and they stayed on top of the demands of the material. But for the work to really take off (pardon the pun), it needed more attack from the dancers - a deeper sense of when to draw out a line, when to suspend and when to retract. If they could find that richer texture along with deeper personal relationships to the movement, the work would become greater than the execution of  thoughtful steps.


"THE ARTS - A pleasant change of pace", Melbourne Fringe Festival Review, The Age Choreographed and directed by Rochelle Carmichael, this double bill is elegant in performance, whimsical in style, and demonstrates some of the simple joys of contemporary dance. In PaPer Man, Taurus Ashley's structured world is shaken by the arrival of a red balloon skirt, and a woman (Kelly Way) to wear it.

Way is joined by Anna Simm in the 499th day, a work about the moment before fire starts. Carmichael's work veers towards emotional, rather than abstract, a pleasant change of pace. Performances by all three dancers are sophisticated and refined, enhanced by the inclusion of familiar classical music."

Jordan Beth Vincent. The Age, Monday, september 27, 2010.

ONLINE - Review: Liza Dezfouli [Australian Stage]September 28th, 2010 "PaPer Man is a sweet piece where you're drawn into the world of two characters, a man and a woman, and he is challenged in a very charming way. The physicality of dancer Taurus Ashley is expressive and refined; he plays out fully the intention of his movements... The use of props in this piece is amusing, thoughtful and eloquent, producing some delightful tableaux. The siren’s playful tricks with balloons and papers nearly tempt the staid man but in the end produce in him a destructive defensiveness."

Moving Works Reviews

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Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 00:16 Written by Rochelle Carmichael

Moving Works: bodies in crisis

Moving Works (SIPart program)

2008 – 2009 – An initiative of Rochelle Carmichael & Angela Pamic and Supported by Theatre Works.

“…as well as more overtly Expressionist pieces in which the arched female body suggests a soul reaching out from a deep well or pit of emotional turmoil (Carmichael).”

July 26, 2009  ONLINE - Review: Jonathan W. Marshall

"In the performing arts time and space becomes a conceptual void, one that is unpacked to reveal emotional, intellectual and metaphysical dimensions. In turn, these same dimensions are comprised of an eclectic array of personal realities. And so it is in Moving Works, during which eight, ten minute performances are given the once over by a panel of judges and an audience required to offer discernment via a peoples' choice award. It's a rewarding night in the theatre, one largely instigated by the challenge set for artists to find a complex and defined movement vocabulary, then compress such into a ten minute reverberation of breath, body, conceptual rigor and emotional catharsis. No easy feat to be sure, yet the performing arts cannot escape the contemporary 'Need for speed' that characterises the present. Like it or lump it, we who populate society are all swept up in an ever increasing rate of exponential transformation. In an age in which it is increasingly difficult for independent practitioners to get a look in, Moving Works created a performance structure within which the above could not only occur, but also, was a thoroughly entertaining night in the theatre. Rochelle Carmichael, Theatre Works, and all involved in each production, are to be congratulated. As for me, I'm already looking forward to Moving Works 2010."

  July 13, 2009   ONLINE - Review: Tony Reck 

 Essence bared in minimalist and moving theatre works

"MOVING Works is a platform for emerging and independent choreographers, encouraging a dialogue between artists and a growing audience for contemporary dance. The breadth of choreographic style on show in Moving Works makes for more than just great conversation fodder for the trip home. Audience members are encouraged to vote for their favourite, with the winner receiving a cash prize and the opportunity to further develop their work."

July 10, 2009  THE AGE - Review: Jordan Beth Vincent 

 

 

 

 

 

Melbourne Fringe Fashion Director Reviews

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Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 00:16 Written by Rochelle Carmichael

Rochelle was the Melbourne Fringe Fashion Director two years running

(2003)

‘This year’s organisers placed more emphasis than previously on entertaining the crowd before the parade, with string of light acts (“hors d’oeuvres). These were followed by the fashion show, divided into pre dinner drinks; fancy & frivolous, appetiser: disturbing & distasteful, and main course; gluttonous gastronomic galas.

 Inclusion of regional Victorian designers was an enormous plus, and the show was one of the freshest, and most enjoyable in years.’

 (Emily Booth –Metro Review – Melbourne) 

 (2002) Rochelle’ show included performances by state championship trampolinists, singers, dancers, actors, electric aeroplane stunt performers, musicians and Japanese drummers.

 Rochelle’s Melbourne Fringe Fashion Shows were critically acclaimed… “events worth seeing, full of atmosphere, glamorous and glittery”

 ‘THIS years Fringe Fashion certainly lived up to it’s Decadent and Delicious theme. Metro nightclub hosted a stylish event on Thursday night, with a program that was better than ever.’

(Emily Booth –Metro Review – Melbourne)

 

Breathing Space Reviews

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Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 00:17 Written by Rochelle Carmichael

Breathing Space

Masters presentation 2003  Dancehouse

“Often the choreography is impressively original, kinesthetically rich and evocative.”

 “The ingenious use of simple design features evokes imaginative responses…The suggestion of a twilight zone or dream space behind the transparent curtains is a major strategy and is highlighted by the use of inventive movement phrases…”

Masters Examiners 2003

 

 

Study at Ground Level Reviews

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Last Updated on Friday, 16 March 2012 00:17 Written by Rochelle Carmichael

Study at Ground Level   2000/2001  Dancehouse & Nth Melb Town Hall

"They moved inventively through space by projecting their bottoms first" 

'Have you ever seen a dance that focuses on the bottom and it's proximity to the floor? Well, Bodies viewers have: Rochelle Carmichael, from Melbourne, had two dancers with muscular bottoms (Larissa O'Brien and Paul Schembri) dancing Study at Ground Level.' (Jennifer Leake Australian Dance Magazine august/september 2001)

"It was also defined by a lovely, gentle, & vaguely erotic sense of comedy."

Jonathan Marshall

 

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