Inert is a dance and video performance experience that explores intimacy, and the associated feelings of helplessness, when one is heard and seen - or not - by an intimate other. Psychologically compelling and richly detailed, the performance offers an intense tour of the (micro)worlds of two people in which the viewers are highly accountable for their relationship with the performers.

Developed by Simon Ellis, David Corbet, Shannon Bott, Cormac Lally and Scott Mitchell, Inert is deliberately short in length and involves just two audience members who are moved through - and positioned in - the work.

The experience of Inert is centred on two adjustable titling platforms on which the audience members are located. Gradually shifting from near vertical to near horizontal, these platforms provide a profound kinaesthetic engagement that underpins the audiovisual and physical aspects of the work.

Inert is an antidote to the relentless 'interactivity' of current performance and media projects, instead exploring notions of personal passivity and intimacy. Small in scale, yet broad in its sensory scope, Inert offers a boutique performance experience immersing its audience in a subtle and extraordinarily intimate world.

In 2006, Inert was a finalist in the Australian Dance Awards "Outstanding Achievement in Independent Dance" category, and received two Dance Magazine Critics' Awards.

Simon Ellis
Simon Ellis is a highly recognised and critically acclaimed choreographer in Australia. He is currently working on four international and national collaborations: Tuesday, a dance film with UK-based cinematographer Tim Halliday; Underworld, a video installation featuring six 10" LCD monitors embedded in the floor of the performance space; untitled, a new performance work with Paea Leach (Perth/Berlin) and Matthew Smith (Vienna) considering the nature of transformation in video/dance performance; and Crevice, a performance installation with Cormac Lally, Shannon Bott and David Corbet, in which the audience are surrounded by four rear projected video screens whilst observing live performance through 'cracks in the floor' of the environment.

Since graduating from the VCA in 1996, Simon has worked as a freelance performer and choreographer. As a dancer he has worked with, among others, Douglas Wright, Michael Parmenter, Shona McCullagh, Jude Walton, Bagryana Popov, Tony Yap and Rivergrass Dance Theatre, Shott Dance Theatre, Big Fish Dance, Shaun McLeod and Don Asker.

Simon's previous choreographies have included site-specific investigations, dance on screen, installation, webart, and more conventional black box works. Examples include Tight, for Natalie Cursio's Album Project; Four Acts of Violence Leading Up To Now (2006), Full (2001), Lying (2002), Indelible (2003), Sleep. Wake. Dream (2004), A Little Dance (2005), Inert (2006), dad.project (2006), Then/Now (2007) and Still/Live (2007).

Contact:

Kath Papas 
Producer
skellis.net
28 Kent Street
Richmond VIC 3121
kathp@ihug.com.au
www.skellis.net