EXPECTATION

Arts House presents the world premiere of Expectation, a new work from acclaimed Melbourne dancer and choreographer Carlee Mellow that challenges the way in which we see, sense and organise information. Expectation blurs the line between what is real and what is imagined, creating an altered space where physical and mental logic shift. Together with award-winning composer Kelly Ryall and designer Ben Cobham, Mellow has created a format that adapts and moves in real time, making each performance unique and different from the last. A series of microphones will transform the stage into a live performance space. Each sound they capture - breaths, footfalls, voices – will transmit to a feedback loop that builds the score in real time. Absurd, fragmented and nonsensical information will test the audience’s perceptual boundaries in an attempt to awaken a different sphere of consciousness where normal logic no longer applies. “I don't pretend to offer you something you haven’t seen before, but my intention is to propose a new way of looking at things. The experiment is to find ways of confusing the viewer's senses to seduce them into an altered sense of reality,” says creator Carlee Mellow. Mellow graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1995. Over the last 14 years she has worked extensively in both film and live performance as a dancer, actor and collaborator. She has performed with some of Australia's leading companies including BalletLab, Chunky Move & Dance Works and numerous independent choreographers both nationally and internationally. Her work has been presented in Melbourne and Berlin. Alongside her own practice she choreographs for theatre and opera including Malthouse Theatre, Arena Theatre Company, 9minds Theatre Company and Oz Opera. “Mellow’s performance is subtle, yet powerful, and utterly engaging” The Age