reviews

‘….One treasure, seen by a privileged few, was Anne O’Keeffe’s Walk on Water…performed by five gutsy women who could sing and make music as easily as they could move…… well worth watching for.’
- Hilary Crampton, the Age, 31/12/99
(Creative development showings)

"... Sirensong Dance and Theatre’s Walk on Water rides this wave of finding new spaces for artforms, and soars well above expectations. ...In response to the slippery surfaces underfoot, choreographer O’Keeffe has established slow, meditative pieces where mood and metaphor rise above story or content. Inspired by traditional Gaelic songs, many of the vignettes involve singing and hand drumming. This is all executed by the performers themselves. Pre-recorded music is abandoned, lighting is sparse, and the senses are comfortably attuned to the environment... Walk on Water steers away from the focused vocabulary of contemporary dance, allowing the possibilities of theatre, song and movement to all thrive. This has involved rejecting notions of intra- and inter-bodily conflict that seems to define much contemporary dance narrative. Many of the vignettes seem founded more on consensus, than conflict, between the players. Here a feminist agenda becomes apparent – for this reviewer anyway. While much of the language of modern dance is founded on masculine ideas of conflict and strain, Walk on Water creates a space where mutual support and cooperation are legitimate forms of relating. These metaphors take on a strong resonance using the Women’s Pool, echoing with its own history of women defining (often by force) their own spaces in negotiated contexts. "
- Ben Zipper, Stage Left
Full Review

audience feedback

‘An exploration and communication of images pertinent of women and water. A beautiful experience.’ Sally Moore, dancer

‘I thought about the rhythms of a woman’s life and water as love, emotion, risk…’ Kim Durban, director

‘It remains one of the most vivid theatrical experiences of my life’ Michael Fitzgerald

‘A celebration of the rituals/daily experiences of women all over the world…’ Anonymous

‘The history of the ‘women’s pool’, what the kind of bathing/changing boxes symbolised, what they physically meant, the whole history of the room resonated deeply into the work, and informed it. The wide variety of images and emotions invoked by the scenes – the combinations of play, madness, joy, fun, sorrow….all work off the history and nature of the performing space.’ Warren Burt, composer

 

‘The woman with the red rag! I loved the way it symbolised birth, miscarriage and of course menstruation…’ Ros Yelland

‘...very much about the internal lives of women, yearnings, joys, fears, pleasures…’ Lliam Freeman

‘Lighting on water was extremely beautiful…’ Noelle Reese-Hatton, dancer

‘I cried. I laughed – the joy of the performers was so beautiful. Fire in the water, standing on the water – you achieved the impossible – I felt like a child, gasping in disbelief.’ Glen Moore, dancer

‘I loved the different shapes of women. I felt peaceful, moved, awakened and joyous to be a woman.’ Amaara Raheem, actor

‘I liked the third sequence – where the woman soaps herself quite maniacally – her stark reflection on the otherwise black water was a mesmerising image.’ Lyle De Sousa, director

‘…the singing helped place the representations in a historical continuum which speaks of ancient, deeply archetypal rituals /traditions.’ Maudie Ingleton

‘…the baptism/sacrifice/wedding sequence… I liked it because for me it was full of meaning – a beautiful, young, fresh-faced girl is washed and dressed by a group of women and is then lowered into the water, in which she gradually disappears! To me she was a virgin stepping into womanhood and all its weight and sorrow, she had no idea what lay ahead: it was about loss of innocence. It made me gasp because I knew what she was in for, and it swallowed her up…’ Ruth O’Rielly, actor

‘Presented as powerfully feminine – it made me envious’ Richard Rolfe

‘Beautiful! The warmth of the site is interesting too, in its calming effect! Lots of very beautiful moments…too many to list…’ Anonymous

‘ I thought the beauty and integrity of the piece came from us as audience just being able to watch and create our own thoughts and meanings from the music and the visuals….’ Amanda Owen, performer

‘…the piece feels honoring to women and to life and to the paradox of constant change, birth, death, rebirth and renewel, as well as the constancy, the always there-ness of water….’ Melanie Landau ·

‘…loved the realism, set the dancers up as human rather than ‘performer…’ Anonymous

‘I loved the miracle at the end – Walk on Water. Loved its element of surprise and its juxtapostion at the top of the spiritual plane, as opposed to the ‘washer women’ at the beginning which I also found very engaging – from basic reality to desire…It seemed to offer such a rich exploration of feminine identity as identified by ceremony, ritual, cleansing, purity, impurity, washing, dressing, undressing, joy, suffering, playfulness, introspection and sharing.... ’ Kirsten von Bibra, director

‘The bride, the woman washing herself …the washing of clothes all great…’Ariette Taylor, director/choreographer

‘The pure abstraction of the single voice mirrored the quality of water – a pure element. It surprised me greatly the ethnic or ‘other world’ style of music… it made it deeply generic…’ Anonymous

‘The woman in the blue dress floating in the water with flowers. I assumed she was portraying the Lady of Shallot. I enjoyed the colors, fabric and flowers and the sense of sinking.’ Lynda Joyce

‘…the space was fantastic (I’ve never been here before) and made it exciting…the ‘women’s pool’: quiet, intimate, no other distractions…’ Louisa Ring-Rolf