Concrete Playground

Ballet taught us that the human body can be sculpted into an organic machine. And for a while that was enough, especially when it was coupled with garish sets and costumes (yes, yes, Ballet Russes) and men with questionable cheekbones and crotch mesas. But something new came onto the scene, something that seduced the meat model of almost perfection: silicon technology.

Taking a look at Wayne McGregor's Sydney Festival piece, Entity, reveals an ensemble that is not so much a collection of individual dancers as it appears to be one form, of flesh and data combined. McGregor's dancers appear to move to mathematical algorithms, giving the impression that their performance is architectural rather than psychological. The result is a mesmerising panorama of more-than-humans, surrounded by the nurturing structures of mechanical screens that seem to dance alongside their living cohort.

A commissioned electronic score by Jon Hopkins is also definitely worth the ticket price alone, with his ability to inject digital euphoria into your marrow. No wonder the dancer-machines move so beautifully here.

Image by Ravi Deepres