The Oracle premiered at The Festival Centre on August 20th. The sensual and intense dance work choreographed and directed by Meryl Tankard and staring award winning dancer
Paul White explored the conflicting forces of nature and man, masculinity and femininity, violence and nurturing, strength and vulnerability. The Oracle is set to Stravinsky's seminal composition for the 1913 infamous ballet
The Rite of Spring.
It is Tankard's most compelling work for many years. The solo piece danced by White fascinates the audience by portraying masculinity with his strong and muscular body as he intensity dances every move. He captivates the crowd leaping through the air with a dark material around his waist and neck and a deep connection in his eyes. He uses the cape to portray he is strong and vulnerable at the same time.
The first minutes of the performance had the audience astonished, the theatre was dark the drums began to pound and the screen turned to a man with gleaming dark eyes. Using a kaleidoscope image White moves his muscular body in and out the screen as his counter paths follow.
When he takes to the stage it becomes a duet with his on-screen shadow, who begins to follow his every move while the drums continue to pound. A second shadow appears and they begin to intensely battle, the white verses the dark, the good verses the bad, his inner demons fighting to take over. He becomes completely exposed to the audience both emotional and physically when he strips off his white briefs and is thrown across the stage in a crowd of white powder.
There is no one answer from this piece; each person watching would have got a different understanding to the story as it plays off our own inner demons and conflicting factors. This work left the audience wanting more with shouts of bravo and a standing ovation.
Meryl Tankard's The Oracle (3 min edit) from Performing Lines on Vimeo.
