Chunky Move Studios, Melbourne
November 9, 2018

Through hazy darkness shaped only by sharp vectors of light, two bodies in beige chiffon jumpsuits appear. One (choreographer and dancer Lauren Langlois) hovers in the background with slightly bent knees, suspended in the thick, inky air. Her counterpart, dancer James Vu Ahn Pham, creeps through the vertical beams of light with an unnatural gait and shrunken neck.

The dancers, like the black void they occupy, are alien and undefined. This is Nether – a small-scale journey of sci-fi contemporary dance, and the first half of a double bill in Chunky Move’s annual commissioning program for emerging choreographers, Next Move 11.

Lauren Langlois and James Vu Ahn Pham in Ether. Photograph © Pippa Samaya

One could say Langlois and Pham are humanoids – clearly human in form but not in movement. From peculiar, creature-like walking to frantic shuffling on hands and knees, the two subjects appear no more familiar with their surroundings than we do as the audience. The choreography oscillates between abstract explorations of tension and release, and exaggerated gestures that border on the absurd.

Pervading the entire work is a strong sense of urgency, largely driven by...