Review: The Mirror at L’Euro Grande

The Mirror at L’Euro Grande
Thursday, July 4, 2024

Brand new urban arts festival RE//PERTH has landed in Northbridge and kicked off its inaugural season with The Mirror, a dance performance by Gravity & Other Myths at L’Euro Grande (European Foods Warehouse) on Francis Street.

As the audience filed into the lavishly repurposed venue, the boombox perched centre stage in the spotlight raised more questions than answers. It then crackled to life as the houselights dimmed. A man clad in underwear and a short silk dressing gown approached to begin turning through stations, stopping on the occasional song, just long enough for the curtains to open briefly to reveal various human sculptures. Eventually it settled on an eerie drone as the line of performers began to stroll in sync to the rhythmless music, regularly collapsing to the ground to raise the person behind them above. The drone sounds were punctuated by the man in the undergarments gleefully singing Summertime.

The ominous and intentionally jarring sound was dramatically broken by silence and a screen, blinding the audience. The white light fuzzed into a TV static that turned to a blood red, punctuated by silhouettes of the figures sitting below the screen. Rising and moulding into each other against the menacing harshness of the light, the acrobats appeared more as one shapeshifting being without solid form.

Scantily clad in light tan underwear, the group took turns letting go of the precise control of their bodies and allowed themselves to be suggestively manipulated, with two of them eventually contorted into a date-like setting, which ended suddenly and with confusion.

The use of a handheld camera projecting onto the screen followed the group backstage as the houselights went on for intermission. Visions of green room chatter and lounging would be a taste of what was to come.

As the behind-the-scenes live stream continued, the members returned to the stage and began limbering up in the last five minutes of intermission. This continued as the house lights went down and the members assembled on stage began an a cappella song and dance number with verbal cues slipped in between the lyrics. Once confident, they began their routine with an up-tempo version of the pop standard Sway.

The eerie drone from earlier in the show returned as human towers rose and swayed daringly before safely and gracefully collapsing. As the bodies onstage swirled more chaotically, the sweet voice from earlier beamed out before revealing himself on screen, standing in the middle of the crowd, showing off his extensive knowledge of song lyrics in an at-times frenetic style with up-close audience interaction.

In a colourful training session, the team clad in 80's-inspired active wear and ran laps over each other around the stage. Despite culminating in the formation of two towers joining hands, fittingly reminiscent of the Olympic flame being lit, the ending seemed to come unexpectedly.

The feeling of 'more questions than answers' from the boombox upon arrival persisted after leaving the show. The kind of questions that can’t be answered in the rush of harsh, swirling neon. When watched with thought, the acrobatics of the show have far more meaning than just mere displays of strength and coordination. The Mirror is a show best experienced and interpreted by oneself.

AJ MAHAR