OUT: BONEMAP (BRISBANE FESTIVAL)

Words by Stephanie Stainlay.
Blurry photos by Athalia Foo.

Brisbane Festival generally overwhelms me. There is so much cool stuff on and I have no idea which ones I should go to/if i can afford theatre over food that week. Hopefully our pick of Bris Fest shows over the next few weeks will make this easier for you and me. Bonemap's Terrestrial Nerve is both amazing and cheap (only $12 for students!)

Put best by Bonemap, Terrestrial Nerve is an, 'immersive intermedial performance engine'. The audience is allowed to roam freely within the performance space and with the dancers. Projections are used throughout as well as iphones attached to the dancers. The soundscape is played live by sound artist Steven Campbell through an ipad in response to the choreography. The work is naturally experimental and the sense of 'liveness' created by the responsive nature of the choreography, both to the music, set and audience, makes you feel like anything could happen during the performance.

This 35 minute hybrid dance/theatre/new-media performance is visually stunning and at times completely creepy, in a really good way. Fans and sheets have never been more mesmerising. Seriously. I almost cried it was so pretty. Things get real eery when the two female dancers, begin to take on more 'animal' type characters. Think Samara from The Ring but in small animal form. Disturbing. But great. 


This show will change your idea of what live performance can be. Which is exciting!


If you want to know more this company and the amazing stuff they are doing we were lucky enough to get a interview with one of Bonemaps cofounders Rebecca Youdell :) Have a listen to our interview HERE. And pls buy tickets to this show HERE. Terrestrial Nerve is running till the 14th of Sept.


And just one more link. If your struggling like I am on what to pick to go see over Bris Fest see our Top Picks HERE. woo!












Foo: pre-show krumping to Bad Girls by M.I.A  :)

(Left to right) Alithea + Amanda + Vanessa

1. Describe what you just saw in 2 words:

Alithea: Something amazing : )

Amanda: Insects, fabric.

Vanessa: Creepily beautiful.

2. Have you seen any other Brisbane Festival Shows yet?

All: Not yet, this is our first!

3. What made you guys decide to come tonight?

Alithea: We are working on a dance piece for Too High Festival as part of the Mega Mix Program. Amanda and I are dancers and Vanessa is a fashion designer, so this was a bit of inspiration for us.

4. Are you seeing any more shows during bris fest?

Alithea: This was my first but I will be seeing some more now.

5. What was your favourite moment from tonights performance?

Alithea: The last few moments because they really built up an intense energy of the characters so you could really understand the feelings and emotions that they were going through.

Amanda: I really loved the fabric in the fan, I could  have just watched that all day. It was so mesmerising.

Vanessa: I liked it when they came out as those weird creatures. It took a turn to something more insect like and animal like. I like that they just stuck it in there and it came out of no where which I thought was really cool and it kind of had a sense of humour as well which I really liked.