object-shun / SERMON — Erin O'Rourke / Rhys Ryan

'object-shun' challenges what is real and what is fake. Time is warped, objects are thrown. 'SERMON' explores the choreographic codes of religion in a bid to rewrite ancient rituals for a new kind of communion.

'object-shun' is a new work by Erin O'Rourke that challenges what is real and what is fake. Time is warped, objects are thrown. Teetering on the cusp of reality and potentiality, impossibility and faux, 'object-shun' examines the perception of a body on display, a body at work, traversing the nuance of body as object vs object as body. The space is contaminated by a collection of dismembered female mannequin parts. Turn all eyes to the women. Don’t just look, actually see them. Allow them to be more than a body, more than an image, more than an object. In a society driven by consumerism and capitalism, and plagued by the persistent pledge of patriarchal ways, the conversation is surging. 'SERMON' is a new dance work from Rhys Ryan that explores the choreographic codes of religion. Using Catholicism as its frame of reference, the work unlocks the performativity of divine ceremonies and the opportunities they present for physical expressions of the self. For the baptised, the jurisdiction of the Church is far reaching; an authority that goes beyond the doctrinal to encompass the whole of the human condition. Through liturgical rites, we arrange our bodies in perpetual service to the ghostly and the mythic. 'SERMON' rewrites these ancient choreographies. Sacred rituals are isolated and fractured; repurposed for a new kind of communion. As movement becomes scripture and tradition collapses, a new altar rises on which we may dance.

'object-shun' Choreographed and performed by: Erin O’Rourke

'SERMON' Choreographed by: Rhys Ryan
Performed by: Anika De Ruyter, Jazmyn Carter, Momoko Nanri