2011 Who's Afraid

Who’s Afraid is a diptych enacting an impossible dialogue between a tuatara, sitting clutching a base, and a dancer whose arms are stretched back above her head. This exchange between a leathery old creature (tuatara can live for 150 years), a remnant from prehistoric times, and the flexibility and vibrancy of a youthful dancer, is a stand-off that is both dramatic and absurd. We are not even sure that one is entirely aware of the other. It is entirely befitting for its location outside a theatre, for each is giving a performance and there is that nervous tension as the two meet. 

The figure has elegance: balanced on one leg, the negative shape where the arm is projected out from the head is a thin, fluid line. She contrasts with the thick, robust quality of the reptile. This is an ‘encounter of high drama and pretense,’ as Dibble summed up to an ever-interested audience who were regularly updated in the local newspaper.