We took In Flagrante to Melbourne in May and performed at The Butterfly Club for 5 nights as part of the Autumn Curated Season.
A specially positive result was the reviews we received…3 of them…all great! See below…
| In Flagrante | The Butterfly Club |
| Written by Lee Bemrose |
| Thursday, 18 May 2017 09:40 |
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Something about this In Flagrante performance at The Butterfly Club intrigued. I Googled. I saw a weird clip with women in G-strings pretending to be horses to the accompaniment of some really quirky music and I thought, this is weird. I like weird; I’m going to check this out.
In Flagrante is basically a dance-based burlesque show celebrating, I think, the empowerment of femininity as well as offering a feminist reply to the idea of sexual fetish. It’s a dance group of four artists performing vignettes that vary quite a bit in mood and tone but all celebrate some aspect of what it means to be female, or occasionally deride male perceptions of what it means to be female.
The overall vibe is one of playful sexuality. This is not a pervy show, even though it’s wall-to-wall g-strings and boobs. These women are dancers and although there is much eye candy for anyone with a taste for the semi-exposed dancer’s body, there is so much going on in the narration that thought is stimulated as much as anything else.
There is much fun to be enjoyed during this showcase. The aforementioned horse/pony fetish piece, which possibly alludes to the outdated saying of a woman being “a fine filly” is just as wonderfully weird on stage as it is in that film clip. The traffic cop is hilarious, as is the can-can piece with its exuberant and cheeky irony. There’s a moody and darkly arty piece about binds or holding back, another retro piece based on actual text when ignorance was the voice of what it meant to be a woman and what her duties entailed, this one quite tragic given that it it and others like it were the voice of authority of a bygone time. Bound. Bondage. Bond-age.
Music was varied but as with the performance on stage, always engaging. The music highlight for me was Nick Cave’s beautifully brooding Water’s Edge. So good.
But the whole thing, all these little stories, it was all so good.
The Butterfly Club In Flagrante
Venue: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne Dates: 16 – 21 May 2017 Tickets: $30 – 38 Bookings:thebutterflyclub.com
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In Flagrante at The Butterfly Club – Review
by Fiona Anderson (subscribe)
A Melbourne based writer who is a travel junkie, dedicated foodie and emerging photographer.
Event: 16/05/2017 – 21/05/2017
Fantasies and Fetishes in Dance in this Provocative Show
In flagrante literally means ‘in flames’, but, (usually with the word ‘delicto’ appended), is often taken to mean ‘caught in the act, caught red-handed’.
As the name suggests, you are not going to see a standard cabaret or burlesque show in In Flagrante, which is playing at The Butterfly Club until Sunday 21st May. Billed as ‘an audacious fusion of elegant fetish, out there sexual slapstick and gender politics’, In Flagrante is a cleverly and tightly choreographed dance performance that skims across a range of fantasies and fetishes.
In Flagrante is a feast of fetishes and fantasies in dance.
With four of the full troupe of six Auckland-based dancers taking to the small stage, In Flagrante takes the audience on a wild ride – almost literally as it happens, as one of their acts involves the women being bridled – bit and all – and prancing around the stage, complete with ears and tail, in a manner rivalling the Lipizzaners of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. You can see a clip of their ‘Horse Burlesque’ act here:
Otherwise, expect to see naughty nurses, bondage gear (including muzzles), simulated auto-erotic asphyxiation, marching girls and can can dancers. It’s a catalogue of fetishes played out in dance in this one-hour show.
But once one gets past the shock value of the fetish themes, is it a quality product? As an example of contemporary dance, I say unequivocally ‘yes’. Reading the online bios of the dancers, they all have a wealth of dance experience. Their performance is strong, physical, sensual and compelling. At the risk of sounding cliched, the dance sequences are also a celebration of the female form, with its perfections and imperfections.
Expect naughty nurses, marching girls and more in this quirky show
It’s not unusual with this type of performance to enjoy some acts more than others. Personally, I enjoyed the more free flowing dance style to some of the more robotic, military style acts. But all were well executed in their precision – a credit both to the dancers and the choreography of MaryJane O’Reilly. And – it’s a case of whatever turns you on, I guess!
Overall it’s definitely a show with a difference; if not unique, at least unusual and bold. Certainly, I’ve not seen its like before.
Can Can you afford to miss this show?
So if you’re up for something a little quirky, a little erotic, and which doesn’t take itself too seriously, don’t miss this one!
In Flagrante plays at 8.30pm each night until 21st May at The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place (off Little Collins Street), Melbourne.
Tickets are $38 full, $34 concession. Click here to buy your tickets online. Tickets are also available at the door (if not sold out prior).
Why? Something a little bit spicy, a little bit sexy, a little bit naughty.
When: 8.30pm each night until Sunday 21st May 2017
Phone: (03) 9663 8107
Website: https://thebutterflyclub.com/show/in-flagrante
Where: The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne (off Lt Collins St, between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets)
Cost: Full – $38, concession – $34
REVIEW
IN FLAGRANTE – MELBOURNE
BY LIDDY CLARK MAY 18 2017
IN FLAGRANTE, Flagrant Productions at the Butterfly Club, 16-28 May 2017.
I have never understood the craze for burlesque or neo-burlesque; as an art form I haven’t sought it out. I do have the basic understanding of its beginnings as parody then high glitz and taking off one’s clothes and teasing. It’s interesting (to me!) that I haven’t sought it out because the subversive, the political coupled with a great sound track is something that I do like.
On this occasion, the small stage at the Butterfly Club is clean and clear, the red curtain looking more plush than usual; the house lights dim, the audience eager, I’m slightly tense. Then the music, the brilliant music. They have chosen to work to Waldeck’s trip hop album – the ballroom series. The four performers enter through the audience and reach the stage, they are wearing what looks like designer gas masks that cover their mouths. They are all dressed alike, they dance in unison and individually using the same choreography. It’s a tantalising beginning.
In Flagrante – from Auckland – is comprised of fifteen vignettes, all brilliantly executed. I still wonder why performers choose to dance almost nude – is it the freedom of expression, the celebration of the female form – don’t know, but by the end of the show I had completely moved past all of that and was one of the first to “Brava!” with my applause.
There were a couple of segments I didn’t warm to, but still appreciated the execution. These dancers are good. Choreographer and director Mary-Jane O’Reilly has taken the vignettes and her dancers and given them meaning, pizazz, a touch of glamour, a sprinkling of humour and stunning choreography. The performers’ enjoyment and their understanding of the genre and what they’re doing is credible and engaging.
Their costumes (yes) are perfect, I loved Traffic (Sofia McIntyre), and how marching girls can get you in is beyond me, but get me in they did. The Nurses routine (Amanda MacFarlane, Maria Munkowits, Sofia McIntyre) gives us the subversive and the political, it’s dark and it is mesmerising. I wasn’t sure how to react to Horses (satirising the sexuality of being in the saddle and bondage) but the choreography was pretty sharp.
The four dancers, including Olivia Tennet, have a glint in their eye when required, a steely mask when needed, a sexy slap or two and they have been well served by the direction, choreography and sound design.
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