One Up, One Down

The full-length mirrors and artificial lights of a shop fitting room set the scene for Gilmore Productions’ latest dance show One Up, One Down. A wry comment on the pressures of being a woman in a high-achieving, consumerist society, the show lays bare the dark side of the quest for physical perfection with an honesty Naomi Wolf would be proud of.

Natasha Gilmore’s frenetic and highly energetic choreography is accompanied by the music of composer Quee Macarthur. Though some modern dance can become self-absorbed, and the content can get lost in interpretive, ostentatious choreographies, Gilmore’s work manages to communicate the self-hatred and anxiety of the women of the celebrity-worshipping, size-zero aspiring generation in almost every move.

Performers Jade Adamson, Charlotte Jarvis and Tara Hodgson are wonderfully skilled dancers. The puppet-like rigidity of their movements embodies the feeling of being trapped inside a woman’s body and the demands society puts on it. They sing and recite poetry by Zimbabwean writer Tawona Sithole, whose poignant words and forceful rhythmic quality complement the dancing. Sithole himself dons the slick suit of a shop sales assistant, whispering sweet promises of happiness and fulfilment to the women as he offers them the latest in evening wear.

Though the material is thoroughly cynical, the show’s dancing is free, raw, and at times hilarious. There is a tangible element of danger to the dancers’ motions. They are fearless in their performances, and fully committed to expressing the frustration of the constraints of the world of haute couture, and the desperation to be free of them.