review of "We All Fall Down"

by Robert Cook

October 2000, The West Australian

SITTING through two hours of dance, music and the visual arts piece We All Fall Down was like watching a gun fighter in a spaghetti Western die. It was long, slow and featured wriggling and writhing in abundance.

The latter was thanks to Gene Sha Rudyn, the dancer whose contribution was the highlight of an otherwise patchy performance by this Singapore trio.

With his fixed grin and eyes wide open focused on nothing at all, the diminutive Sha Rudyn oscillated between appearing possessed and exhibiting the painfully restless demeanour of a distressed autistic child.

Even so his movements, to the improvised accompaniment of Azmy Hassan on bells, accordion, piano and pre-recorded rock, displayed superb muscle control.

Often appearing to float on his feet, or move backwards as he was going forwards, his complex gestures owed a big debt to Singapore dance. Wrapping cloth around his arms and legs, he invited the audience to take his weight as he squirmed against the resistance.

Flirting with suffocation, he let out wails and came to resemble a puppet or a dog straining on a choke-strain.

Initially entertaining, such antics lost their urgency as the gestures grew repetitive and the music seemed to plod along.

As for Nisha Ariyaratne, daubing the occasional paint mark on three otherwise blank canvases in the corner, her contribution was an "arty" distraction that added nothing to the performance as a whole. There is obvious potential in We All Fall Down but the group needs to identify exactly what it wants to say and concentrate on saying it as concisely as possible.

Forget the hippie symbolism, the arty posturing and figure how best to present Sha Rudyn's unique contortions to their utmost. That is where the strength lies.