Two Lies examines the paradox of memory and how experiences are stored and revised by subsequent events.
The work explores concepts of duality, with the three dancers performing the same work twice.
The first time the dance is performed in a contracted square of light with small minimalist movements and stiff pale dresses. The second time the sound is amplified, the space expands, the dresses are silky and saturated with colour, and the movement is lush and large.
It is both amusing and disturbing, presenting two sides of a story to reveal the deceiving aspects of recollection.
Two Lies was the first work produced by Guerin after she returned to Australia following seven years of working in New York. Originally called Courtables 1966 when it debuted at Gasworks in Melbourne in 1996, the work was renamed Two Lies and performed at The Kitchen in New York City in 1997.
Two Lies received critical acclaim in New York and won Guerin a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) in 1997.
“The elegant crystalline structure tugs against the enigma of these women.”
The Village Voice, 29 April 1997.
“Ms Guerin commands attention with her forcefulness as both a dancer and a choreographer”
New York Times, 14 April 1997.
Watch excerpts of Two Lies.
Premiered at Gasworks, Melbourne, 4 September 1996 (named Courtables 1966)
Images: Johan Elbers