Long Sentences

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https://performancespace.com.au/whats-on/rhiannon-newton

Date Reviewed: 22/10/2025

Long Sentences is part of the Liveworks Festival at Carriageworks.

Rhiannon Newton is an Australian dancer and choreographer who grew up on Dunghutti Land on the Mid-North Coast of NSW.

“A dance about a sentence – and a sentence that realises it is dancing.” With this poetic premise, Long Sentences delivers a bold and original solo performance that fuses movement and language into a meditation on sensation, memory, ambiguity, and interpretation. It’s the first time I’ve seen a dancer speak as part of their routine - an unexpected and intriguing choice, and a challenging feat for a solo performer to maintain.

The stage is spare, save for a lone rock placed centre floor. In the dimly lit corner, a solitary figure stirs. Faint whispers ripple through the space as she begins her approach - twisting, turning, gesturing - toward the rock and the audience. Gradually, sound and light intensify. We see she wears a mouthpiece and is speaking as she moves. Words and gestures loop and echo: “We are in a long sentence that is connecting time.” Phrases like “I sentence you to a feeling” hover between poetic and cryptic, inviting interpretation but resisting resolution.

The energy shifts dramatically when the performer mounts a spinning disc. Overlapping voice recordings reference vibrations and energy, building to a cacophonous crescendo of sound, speed, and light - before collapsing into quiet. This change of pace releases the audience from the initial loops and echoes, yet delivers an alternative of intense discomfort and overstimulation before the sensory overload is removed.

In a slower, more intimate and somewhat nurturing sequence, the dancer approaches the rock to draw it into her lap. She shudders before cradling it on her chest. Then, separating from the rock, she performs a writhing rhythmic dance that differs in style from earlier movements.

Towards the end of her performance, the dancer’s words offer glimpses of personal identity: “I burn the energy from the food I ate before this performance,” she says, and mentions growing up in a small coastal town. She acknowledges the audience too, noting, “You, like me, have been drinking Sydney Water for some time.”

A word of warning: Long Sentences demands patience. The audience must work hard - listening closely, staying present through extended, obscure, and repetitive loops. Understanding may remain elusive. At one point, a prison cell is mentioned, and yes, it occasionally felt like a sentence was being served (pun fully intended).

Reviewed by Sharon Stockwell