FRINGE '04 REVIEW: Dear God, Degas

A collection of three works, Dear God, Degas spans broad themes in womanhood. The title piece features ballerinas going through their motions with varying amounts of grace as Degas pokes around looking at them and hazarding to make corrections and adjustments. Providing contrast to the pink and white tutu clad 'girls' are the mothers who, despite their sombre dress, also preen and arrange themselves in such a way as to be pleasing to the artist. As the average age of the 'les petits rats' is closer to sixty than sixteen the effect of the tutus and coquettish behaviour in a generation of women we are accustomed to seeing as powerful figures is unusual to the point of being slightly disturbing.

Fishnet draws on multiple motifs to create a montage of visual confusion. A work in progress that seemingly addresses the invisibility cloaks that women commonly experience shrugging down around them as they age and lose the allure of youthful prettiness and with it the attention of everyone on the street.

Women's Work was by far the stand out piece. Using simple movements and percussive repetition ten dancers fill the stage with their swaying steps, their lyrical nappy washing, their feeding of children and cleaning in corners. The predominantly female audience howled with laughter to see these tasks carried out with much aplomb to the strains of Bolero. A tribute to the comedy in motion that is the art of living. Bravo!

ENDS

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