How close is too close?
A performance about intimacy and helplessness
Inert at Arts House, 3–8 and 10–15 March, 2009
"An experience of total immersion creating a heightened awareness of one's own sensations and feelings" – Dance International
"What stays with me is the enormous tact of this performance: it was an act of radical destabilisation that was never anything but gentle. It demonstrated that intimacy is, more than anything else, the act of noticing details, of sharpening the gaze from the general to the acutely particular." – Theatre Notes
Inert could be retold as an experience of the extremities of time, space and proximity. At 15 minutes, this mignon of a dance is haute cuisine in performance terms: molecular, refined, restrained, and almost autistically exclusive." – Real Time
Inert is a performance experience that delves into the psychology of love and loss when one is heard and seen—or not—by an intimate other. Small in scale, yet broad in its sensory scope, Inert offers a boutique performance experience immersing its audience in a subtle and extraordinarily intimate world.
The project involves two audience members who are positioned in the work on individual tilting platforms. Gradually shifting from near-vertical to hear-horizontal, these platforms provide a profound bodily experience of gravity that underpins the audiovisual and physical components.
In 2006, Inert was a finalist in the Australian Dance Awards “Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance” category, and received two Dance Magazine Critics Awards, "Best new work" (Herald Sun), and "Most outstanding choreography" (The Age).
Reviews of Inert @ Arts House (March 2009) have been published by Alison Croggon for Theatre Notes, Jordan Beth Vincent for The Age and Jana Perkovic for Real Time. Please note that these reviews contain spoilers.
Inert was originally developed and presented with the support of Arts Victoria, Dancehouse and the University of Northampton. The return season of Inert at Arts House as part of Dance Massive were supported by the City of Melbourne.
