Koncentrat Artistic Group, Gillie Kleiman, Anomic Multimedia Theatre

Fat and form, fat and feeling, and empty anomie


Is fat a formalist issue? The juxtaposition of two works in tonight’s Resolution! made the question impossible to avoid, even if the first one didn’t try to raise it. Floe, by Koncentrat Artistic Group, features Rafal Dziemidok, who is a lot fatter than your average dancer. So? He’s a lot more interesting too, and fat has nothing to do with it; form does. Floe is a kind of choreographic show-and-tell: Dziemidok explains his process – two types of flow (lilting, staccato) combine with two variables (fast/slow, up/down) producing eight types of phrase – and then demonstrates it. Between times, he muses on meanings, memory and music, and somehow you sense a rush of connections between the matter-of-fact material, the feelings it seems to contain (discovery, introspection, struggle) and the cheesy sentiments of his chosen doo-wop song. It’s a rare chemistry, underpinned by the unobtrusive presence of ballgowned Ewa Garniec, who dutifully operates the sound and lights, all dressed up with nowhere to go.

In Floe, fat is not an issue but form is; the reverse is true in Gillie Kleiman’s Ophelia is Not Dead. Kleiman is another low-key, likeable presence who muses on memories (learning the splits, doing a dance degree) and dances out demonstrations; and like Garniec, she’s posh-frocked. But she’s not much interested in form, more in feelings and flesh: she squeezes her ample belly, bounces boobs and buttocks, tells fat-mum jokes. The points about the banality of hurt are well taken, and in theatrical terms the piece is both entertaining and discomfiting. Choreographically, though, it’s lightweight.

At least Kleiman has purpose and direction; Dan Shorten and Sasha Spasic of Anomic Multimedia Theatre look lost. In Leave Only Footprints they skid and tumble and skitter pointlessly through a myriad of special effects: sweeping searchlights, elaborate stage scaffolding, screen animations of space-age avatars, electric snowflakes, comic-art street scenes – all accompanied by a miscellany of music (electronica, trance, acoustic guitar). Lots of effects, little effect.