DANCE: XAVIER LE ROY

Contemporary dance and performance art can be so tediously abstract or if not that, then garishly whimsical. For Xavier Le Roy, it’s neither, “My approach to art making is very much analytical, experimental, and critical.” Perhaps ten years studying molecular and cellular biology and a PhD later will do that to one’s practice? After a successful run at London’s Tate Modern, Le Roy brings the piece that explains such a paradoxical career change, Product of Circumstances, to the Seymour Centre. This cross-disciplinary work will incorporate an autobiographical conference with Le Roy, Sydney University’s Dr Amanda Card and the audience, followed by a performance where Le Roy, using the conference material, becomes the raw material of social and cultural organisation. So how to know what to expect? “The best way is to come, to make the experience,” says Le Roy. This performance though definitely abstract, will be far from tedious.

Nov 20, Seymour Theatre Centre, cnr City Rd & Cleveland St, Chippendale, $20-25, 9351 7940 or seymour.usyd.edu.au