Dance/burlesque/circus mash-up Matador sabor de amor by Bass Fam Collective has been kicking, thrusting and salsa’ing around in various iterations for about five years now. This re-worked and condensed version for Melbourne Fringe comes in at a tidy 60 minutes. But this new-found brevity makes the show lunge along at breakneck speed, almost like it is on fast-forward, with lots of cuts and edits and no time to settle into anything.
Which is a shame, because it’s about the push/pulls of love, from the sultry to the quick and dirty, the gender fluid and the downright raunchy. It’s all wrapped up in a bull fighter/Spanish theme, with some spoken poetry peppering the choppy musical medleys.
The cast of 11 sultry dancers, kitted out in various lingerie, leathers and stilettos, shimmer and shake their hearts out, all at break-neck speed and rock-hard edges. It’s eye catching but assaulting, dialed up to one hundred at pretty much all times. Individual aerial acts by Jessica Robbins are some of the only times to focus on a single body for more than a minute.
So many routines, so little time. While there’s the old adage that all shows are too long, Matador would benefit from a more stretched out pace. Give it back its lingering poetry, its beginning/middle and endings and a chance for the hardworking dancers to catch their breaths. This would increase the sexy-meter and allow everyone, audience and performers alike, to lap up the lavish love-fest and appreciate some of the nuances and nuggets buried within the fiercely flying choreography.
Event details
Bass Fam Creative presents
Matador sabor de amor
by Bass G Fam
Director Bass G Fam and Josephine Magliolo
Venue: Festival Park (The Vault) | Testing Grounds Market Sq, Queen Victoria Market (391 Queen St) Melbourne VIC
Dates: 3 – 29 October 2023
Tickets: $56.25 – $99
Bookings: melbournefringe.com.au
Part of the 2023 Melbourne Fringe Festival
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