Iconic 1990s sitcom, Seinfeld, popularised the expression ‘I’m putting it in the vault’ as an amusing way to assure people you’re ‘locking away’ confidential information.
Australian Dance Party’s (ADP) latest show From the vault looks to unlock our values and safe keepings, on a personal and societal level, providing a nuanced and sophisticated examination of an idea Seinfeld simply played for laughs.
“We’ve opened up and unlocked a discussion around what is important and what do we want to invest our time and our money in, for ourselves and our society and community,” ADP Party Leader Alison Plevey tells Canberra Daily.
Plevey, who conceptualised and is directing this production, says the thematic core of From the vault was inspired by the venue they’ve secured for their performances later this month, a warehouse facility that once held valuable goods for one of Canberra’s national institutions.
“It was a bit hush hush, did you know, curious secret intrigue about the building and a sense of preciousness about it.
“It got me thinking about my own concerns about what we’re choosing to value in our contemporary times,” she says.
The way in which ADP will utilise the space adds another element of intrigue into what is already a conceptually rich and layered production.
“How the relationship with space, this vault is a concrete box with no windows, it’s very enclosed and has this very safe-like high security feeling,” she says.
Plevey says ADP regularly choose to perform in unconventional venues as a way of further accentuating their productions.
“I’ve always been interested in the idea of bringing dance out to the everyday, bringing dance out to our civic spaces, but also unusual spaces.
“By choosing these different spaces, it heightens the feeling of the dance and heightens the conceptual rigour of what we’re trying to talk about.
“They’re real spaces, not theatrical spaces which you can shape to be whatever you want to be,” she says.
ADP’s From the vault will be performed at a secret warehouse at Dairy Road Precinct, Fyshwick, 20-21 September 7.30pm, 22 September 6pm; facebook.com/australiandanceparty
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