Review By Rowan Brunt
Put on your rave shades, lace up your comfiest sneakers, and get ready for a night of boundless energy that will leave you buzzing.
The Butterfly Who Flew into the Rave is an endurance dance piece, part of the Liveworks Festival by Performance Space, hosted at Carriageworks. The visionary core team—Oli Mathieson, Lucy Lynch, and Shavron Mortimer from Aotearoa New Zealand—brings this award-winning work to Sydney audiences, and it is, without a doubt, an unmissable experience. Having followed this piece since it received acclaim at the 2024 New Zealand Fringe Festival and recently toured to Melbourne Fringe, I can attest that it’s a mesmerising journey into the ecstasy and catharsis of communal dance. The performers' magnetic presence and imagery draw the audience into the immersive, transcendent feeling of being in sync with music and movement.
The experience begins as audiences are guided through the back-of-house technical storage at Carriageworks, catching the pulsing beat of Suburban Knight's Nocturbulous Behaviour before entering a dark, elongated warehouse lit with ethereal blue lighting. Three figures sway in the corner, instantly captivating. The minimalist yet powerful production design recreates the ambiance of a club—enough spectacle without veering into over-the-top theatrics. Instead, the setting aligns perfectly with the choreography, creating a raw, hypnotic atmosphere. Audience members found seats on stools, benches, or even the floor, or stood and grooved along for the 70 minutes of continuous, electrifying movement.
This piece defies categorization. While it borrows elements from rave culture, whacking, and commercial hip-hop, it transcends any single style. The choreography is distinctly contemporary—not in a traditional Martha Graham sense, but in a way that feels deeply rooted in the now. The dancers shift fluidly from sharp, percussive arm movements to flowing, organic extensions, seamlessly blending music and motion. It’s clear that every beat and every gesture has been thoughtfully crafted to connect on both a visceral and communal level.
The 70 minutes are relentless, yet filled with moments of contrast that lend depth and resonance to the intensity. In one segment, the trio huddles under a single spotlight, swaying rhythmically in their own world, evoking those profound, fragmented conversations shared with strangers at 3 a.m. Later, they surge toward the audience, mouths open in a primal roar, their bodies releasing a wild, infectious energy. The crowd responds with equal fervour—cheering, clapping, and whistling as if offering their own energy to sustain the performers’ stamina through this physical feat.
And at its core, The Butterfly Who Flew into the Rave is a testament to endurance—a breathtaking, unyielding display of the human spirit fueled by music and movement. Though the audience might not have danced themselves, the experience was communal ecstasy, bearing witness to an artistic feat that felt both vigorous and revitalising.
Image Supplied