Infra: Lighting

Infra: Lighting

Staging and Set

  • The performance space is a conventional proscenium arch stage.
  • Stage depth is used effectively to showcase different groupings and intensities of movement.
  • A large digital clock is situated on the upper stage area, indicating the passage of time.

Properties

  • No properties are utilised throughout the performance leading to a focus on movement language.

Costume

  • Costumes are everyday civilian clothes, reinforcing the urban setting and individual identities of the performers.
  • The color palette is primarily dark with occasional bright colors, emphasising certain moments or movements.

Dancers

  • Four main dancers are used in perfect unison suggesting a mindless workforce.
  • Additional cast members contribute to the sense of a crowded city landscape and individual stories within that.

Lighting

  • Lighting is predominantly dim with use of spotlights to highlight specific action/movements.
  • Use of shadows and silhouettes contributes to highlight the anonymity of city life.

Aural Setting

  • The soundscape features a combination of atmospheric urban sounds and melodic elements, enhancing the juxtaposition of individual vs crowd, and the impersonal city environment.
  • The innocence and lightness of Liang’s piano solos contrasts with the intensity of 65daysofstatic’s electronic soundscape, reflecting the varied experiences and emotions of city dwellers.

Performance environment

  • The dance recital takes place in a proscenium arch theatre.

Choreographer’s approach

  • Choreographer Wayne McGregor often uses a collaborative approach, working closely with dancers, designers, and musicians.
  • He draws on a variety of sources to create multi-layered performance experiences.

Movement Content (actions, dynamics, space, relationships)

  • McGregor makes extensive use of the body’s natural lines and angles, creating angular and fluid movement sequences.
  • The choreography explores a wide range of dynamics, from rapid, sharp actions to slow, undulating movements.
  • Dancers frequently interact, sometimes in unison, at other times in contrast, reflecting the depiction of city life and relationships.

Form

  • A thematic form is utilized. The dance unfolds in a series of episodes with certain motifs and themes recurring.

Choreographic Devices

  • Motif development is used extensively; initial motifs are presented and then progressively altered.
  • Certain themes and motifs recur throughout the dance, aiding coherence and continuity.

Mood

  • The mood varies throughout, reflecting the complexity of experiences and emotions in city life.

Meaning

  • As the title suggests, it appears to be a commentary on the isolation within highly populated urban environments.

Ideas

  • One of the key ideas appears to be the isolation and disconnect that individuals can experience within crowded urban environments.
  • The contrast between the individual and the crowd is a consistent feature in the work.

Themes

  • Themes include isolation, connectivity, relationships, time, and the patterns of urban life.
  • Individual vs. crowd is a recurring theme in the work.

Style

  • The style is a distinctive fusion of ballet and contemporary dance; featuring classical ballet technique, juxtaposed with fluency and fluidity of contemporary dance.

Similarities with other dances

  • Like many of McGregor’s works, it fuses balletic and contemporary movement and engages with digital technology.
  • The depiction of individual versus crowd echoes his other works like Entity and FAR.

Differences to other dances

  • McGregor’s form is less narrative driven, instead exploring emotional states set within a city location.

Audience Understanding

  • The abstract nature of certain sections may make the dance challenging for some audiences.
  • However, thematic clarity and the visceral intensity of performance may lead to a strong audience response.

Purpose

  • The purpose seems to be to evoke and explore the experience of living in a crowded city, highlighting both the isolation and connections that can be experienced therein.

Environment in which the dance was created and performed

  • Created and first performed at the Royal Opera House.
  • Given its abstract nature, it is likely that it would be performed in similar formal theatre venues.