JEN MILLS | Author & Journalist
‘Aching, confronting, and deeply moving. BÁRBAROS is unforgettable’.
BÁRBAROS is a thrilling multidisciplinary work from one of Adelaides leading independent dance companies ‘Limosani Projekts’. A deeply psychological work, it examines human hierarchy, violence, and the power dynamics that shift and quake beneath the surface of our so-called civilisation.
Award-winning choreographer/director Lina Limosani has joined forces with renowned Adelaide visual artist Thom Buchanan and sound designer Sean Williams to weave dance, sound and visual art/design explorations into a highly visceral and poetic stage production that maps a creative voyage through the ambiguous and inescapable relationship between civilisation and barbarism.
Lina Limosani continues to push boundaries in BÁRBAROS. Bodies metamorphose between animal, insect and machine, to move from gracious beauty to elemental force. Human figures struggle against and embrace their shadows, producing images of horror that ripple suddenly into an equal tenderness.
The full expression of power relations runs through this performance, evoking grief and shame, brutality and kindness, struggle and triumph, hubris and decay.
Thom Buchanan and Renate Henschke’s bold design is a sci-fi landscape, a mountain, spire, and podium, a garment, weapon and barricade; that by the end of this tight performance, has become another character, exuding a world of emotion and bearing its own scars. Innovative, graphic costume design merges with the set in breathtaking ways.
Through dynamic physical performances by the dancers, a haunting original score, and a powerful stage design, audiences will be guided through a beautifully twisted narrative that unpacks how the barbaric lurks in the hearts of the civilised.
AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE
Co-commissioned by Adelaide Festival Centre & Brink Productions
Space Theatre | Adelaide Festival Centre | Adelaide
June 29th – July 1st July, 2023
7th SEOUL INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL | KOREA
Grand Theater, Mary Hall, Sogang University
September 5th, 2024
GUNSAN INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL | KOREA
Gunsan Palma Art Space
September 7th 2024
Conceived and Directed by: Lina Limosani | Thom Buchanan | Sean Williams
Director & Choreographer: Lina Limosani
Visual Artist: Thom Buchanan
Set Design: Thom Buchanan and Renate Henschke
Dramaturg: Paul Gazolla
Costume Design: Renate Henschke
Dancers: Jana Castillo | Anton | Rowan Rossi
Sound Composer: Sean Williams
Sound Technician: James Oborn
CREATE SA RUBY AWARDS
Most Outstanding Work Outside of a Festival (Nomination)
‘Independent choreographer Lina Limosani hits yet another jackpot with BÁRBAROS.’
‘BÁRBAROS is a sensory feast….captivating in every respect.’
‘BÁRBAROS is a tremendous, powerfully visceral nightmare journey exploring the darkest psychological depths of the divide between civilisation and outright barbarism.’
‘The ultimate absolute heart of darkness.’