Represent Recommends: Attachments 1-7
We first caught Attachments in July 2005 and seeing the name in our inbox brings back warm memories of the early days of Represent. Moving on from nostalgia, the point is that it’s back again after more than two years, which in our minds is affirmation of it’s appeal and success. Read our review from ’05 here and see the PR below – we’d love to know if you agree! Catch the show at the Dance factory, Newtown in November.
Back to The Dance Factory by public demand is ATTACHMENTS, that delightful series of duets created by Gerard Bester with performers Athena Mazarakis and Craig Morris. ATTACHMENTS (1-3) was first staged at the FNB Dance Umbrella 2004, followed by ATTACHMENTS (1-6) a year later on the same platform. This was followed by a record-breaking season at The Dance Factory, with Mazarakis receiving the Gauteng MEC Award for Most Outstanding Female Dancer and Morris, the equivalent award as Most Outstanding Male.
ATTACHMENTS is theatre for the discerning – distilled pieces of physical lyricism that slip from comedy to heartbreak. The work explores the coming together of bodies, desires, fantasies and territories. It uncovers the negotiations in the various stages of a relationship:
When we first: The electricity of the first encounter transports us from the familiar into the space of another. Blue Bathroom: The spark of the first meeting transforms into the playfulness and madness of discovering new love and shared spaces. Sleep Talk: In our most intimate space we are challenged by the fulfilment of and surrender to another. Take Out: What are we distracted from? What if (For my mother): The fantasy of a brief escape reveals the paradox of being together and alone. Lost in Away: How do we return, having lost where we were? From the outside in: Negotiating the pathway to what we had.
Zingi Mkefa in the Sunday Times wrote:
Delicate, emotionally charged and even humorous at times…Ultimately, Bester’s choreography reveals the power and potency of simplicity…
In the Jewish Report, Robyn Sassen said:
Draws on physical theatre idioms, clear in their narrative value, but beautiful in their physical interpretation of emotions and abstract values…contemplates the evolution of love, devoid of fairytale fantasies or commercialised dreams…blends comedy and heartbreak. The duo of Mazarakis and Morris onstage offers a dynamism, lyricism and sense of timing that is delightful to watch. The work is powerful, yet subtle, entertaining and inspiring.
Adrienne Sichel for The Star wrote: Athena Mazarakis and Craig Morris use their extraordinary articulate bodies and sharply honed senses to resonate recognisable nuances in intimate relationships…What is so significant about this refreshing work is the originality brought to the choreography by the virtuosity and experience of each performer.
ATTACHMENTS played to capacity houses on the main programme at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown 2006; and was presented on the National Arts festival Fringe in 2007, with the addition of a new 7th section. Katherine Graham wrote: Set to a seamless soundtrack which ranges from David Gray and the Beatles to compositions by Chris Wood and Phillip Miller, this dance piece succeeds in striking all the right chords with the audience.
The work has also been performed at the Hilton Arts Festival (2005), The Klein Karoo Nationale Kunsfees (2007) where Mazarakis and Morris received a Kanna Award for Best Achievement in Dance Theatre; and St Anne’s Theatre Festival (Pietermaritzburg, 2007).
ATTACHMENTS (1-7) is presented by Untouchable Productions, with lighting design by Declan Randall. It also features a section of Franz Schubert’s Death and the Maiden and Arvo Part’s Psalom. ATTACHMENTS was created with funding from the National Arts Council and FNB Dance Umbrella.
The forthcoming season at The Dance Factory runs from November 1st to 11th. Tickets are R60 for Adults; and R40 for Students, Pensioners and Groups of 10 or more. Booking is at Computicket. For more information, phone The Dance Factory at 011 833 1347.
