WE'RE hardly in our seats before this gaggle of Lolas is thrusting little nibbles at us. The company are all frou-frou'd up in lemon frilly pinny things, and they're garrulous as they hand-feed us snackettes of Spam, fruit, and glutinous Turkish Delight - it's like a manic cabaret. Any moment now, you reckon, and Julie Tolentino will go into her Carmen Miranda routine. But what follows is a series of hauntingly odd vignettes, full of pungent and unsettling images. These images seem disconnected. By the end, however, they have come together in a reflection of how complex an individual can be. Especially when, like Tolentino, there is such a mix of genes, influences, and experiences all sharing the same body. She is a lesbian who lives in New York and has worked with David Rousseve, Ron Athey, and Madonna.
Mestiza offers glimpses of ''cusp identity'' as perceived by the individual and the world. There's the barrage of racial abuse, but there's also narcissism and isolation. The final moments suggest finding yourself is freeing yourself, and vice versa. A poetic work that suggests Tolentino is finding herself as a maker of her own work. Her performance was preceded, in the main foyer, by Present Supports - dancer/ choreographer Vanessa Smith made use of the space to explore ideas of support, departure, and presentation. A limited vocabulary of movement, allied to a witty use of chairs, meant we focussed human/inanimate support even as wondered at who was supporting whom when the three performers vanished round corners or exited, slowly, into the twilight of a corridor.
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