BF10 Day 5: Sutra

Today was my second personal foray into the world of dance – I am more accustomed to the language of it (although having spent hours editing or watching or looking up dance videos, I was up to scratch). Tonight was the opening of Sutra and it was an amazing experience to be a part of.

First of all, the acrobatic and martial arts mastery of the monks is something that I haven’t seen before on stage (even at the tech rehearsal in the afternoon). The evolving stage design, in the words of one of the attendees a designer’s dream, took on a life on its own – morphing a lotus type of design, into a solid unfriendly wall or stacked together neatly until a deliberate push adds chaos into the design…but even then it still looks fitting.

The background musical performance was amazing and I actually still have a portion of it playing in my head (would have been the YouTube clip here). The relationship between the two was so fitting to the movement and story.

The audience was also very receptive – gasping at the acrobatic skills of the Shaolin Temple monks, laughing at some of the cheeky parts of this fascinating storyline even if it is conveyed via a simple gesture or a movement. No need for words, the story is there by movement of bodies or objects.

Having walked out of the Playhouse, what was very interesting was the variety of people who attended – someone commented on Twitter that most of the people in her class went, I saw a few people who I haven’t seen in several months…

After Sutra we checked out Havana Club as the Cascade Court in QPAC transforms to give it a very Cuban feel..

See brisbanefestival.com.au for more info.