What Am I Supposed To Do?
The Fairfax, Arts Centre
Staring into our cultural inertia and the hypocrisies of trying to be good in the face of a climate crisis, What Am I Supposed To Do? (WAISTD) is a truly immersive experience questioning the complexities and complicity of contemporary Australia. Digging into the stasis that holds us back from doing anything, this dark, hopeful and irreverent cautionary tale reminds that now is not the time to sit back and watch.
Sarah Aiken and Rebecca Jensen / Deep Soulful Sweats invite you to jump in the twin cab for a jaw-dropping ride through cultural detritus of colonial Australia in an unfolding eco-horror. Somewhere between mass games, film set and school play, you will play a vital part in a performance without spectators. Directed live, the entire audience move through a collage of drama, movement and narrative, heavy on the symbolism.
WAISTD was developed with the assistance of Arts Centre Melbourne and Melbourne Fringe as part of the Take Over! commission. This project has been generously supported by Monica Lim and Konfir Kabo and Lorraine and John Bates.
Concept, choreography and performance – Sarah Aiken and Rebecca Jensen / Deep Soulful Sweats
Set & Costume Designer – Romanie Harper
Lighting Designer – Amelia Lever-Davidson
Mentor/Outside Eye- Mish Grigor
Sound Design- Andrew Wilson
Production Manager- Bindi Green
Collaborating performers
PRESS
“A freeform, participatory fantasia that immerses the audience in a lush cocktail of physical sensations, guided dance, imposed dress-ups and tenderness.”
– Jana Perkovic, Dancehouse Diary
“Mystifying non-linear scenes build off of and collide with one another, creating an absurd universe [… ] It powerfully employs the corporeality of contemporary dance to discuss what the body is to us now and what it might become in a way that is hard to express in words, channeling the unspeakable anxieties that live just below our skin.”
– Amanda Ribas Tugwell, Beat Magazine
“Aiken and Jensen hit gold when examining the right to access mythic traditions in contemporary terms.”
– Varia Karipoff, RealTime
“Bold and frankly very unusual, the whole evening was magnificent.”
– Freya Parr, Rotunda Media
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