DANCE: MIRRORMIRROR

Mirrormirror is, in the words of one of its creators and dancers, Dean Walsh, “A work that looks at personal endings, death … according to the self.” The last in a triptych exploring endings that famed choreographer David Clarkson and Walsh have been working on, it follows 1998’s Four Riders and the sci-fi inspired Red. Both took place on stilts, both grappled with heady themes normally beyond the reach of mere mortals. Mirrormirror is more of a personal reflection on the theme. “It’s neither a beginning nor an ending, quite a Buddhist notion of death … a reflection of many other mirrors … in our past or genetic lineage.” The idea took seed when Clarkson and Walsh discussed their Celtic ancestry and the idea of mapping human history through genes. “We are all made up of the same carbon. Genes take on sensation. They are stored in the body and they remember.” Above the dance space, which according to Walsh in no way breaks down the fabled fourth wall, hover two suspended puppets, Arthur and Martha. Walsh and Clarkson’s ancestors, watching over them? Certainly, people have interpreted it that way, either that or, “androids of the future.” Because any ending is a beginning, and death is the ultimate precipice between the two. Two men, two puppets, a mirror-like surface on which they dance with the ghostly presence of death. “This feels like the biggest lie I’ve told. Everyone says how graceful and serene it looks, but for us its torture. I haven’t felt as much alive.”

Oct 2-10, Riverside Theatres, cnr Church & Market Sts Parramatta, $25, 8839 3399 or riversideparramatta.com.au