Monumental

MONUMENTAL

A solo dance work by dancer and choreographer Ros Warby.

Melbourne International Arts Festival 2006.

Building from her unique performance practice and her long standing artistic collaboration with designer Margie Medlin and composer Helen Mountfort, Monumental continues to refine Warby’s integration of the solo dance form with film projection and composition.

Drawing from the iconic symbols of classical ballet, the swan and the soldier, Monumental brings focus to our own sense of strength and dissolution, amidst the often irreconcilable tragedies and the sustaining power of beauty in the world today. Warby’s formal presentation, layered with black and white 35mm film projection and a rich composition of solo cello, is grounded in the classical dance form and technique, yet her choreography swings wildly from this place allowing the voice to co-exist with the dance, becoming a natural extension of her performance. Each movement simultaneously commits to and yet abandons Warby’s own formal training, Throughout Monumental we recognise the potential for flight through familiar dance imagery, yet Warby’s perception of the dance she performs does not dictate our own expectations. The possibilities for the swan and the soldier are thrown wide open.