Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman
Selected Quotes about their Work
with The Physical TV Company, Tasdance, or That Was Fast
Dance Films
2009 ENTANGLEMENT THEORY
Reviews – USA
Review of Special Animation Event at the Dance on Camera Festival, New York City, January, 2010
“What’s animation? It’s striking here that almost all of these shorts combine cartoons with live-action photography. In the best of these, “Entanglement Theory” (directed by Richard James Allen, Karen Pearlman and Gary Hayes), this mixture gives a new vitality to the dream states that preoccupy so many of the current crop of Dance on Camera filmmakers.
“Entanglement Theory” shows us several main planes of existence: a young man with red hair in realistic, prosaic circumstances; the same man switching into dance activity (sometimes defying gravity); and the cartoon versions of himself, sometimes also dancing….as drama this film is absorbing.
Alastair Macaulay, “When Hippos Are Muses for Choreographers”,
The New York Times, January 29, 2010 (online),
and January 30, 2010 (in print, page C3 in the Dance)
Reviews – Italy
• “Richard James Allen is the master of choreography, as well as of dance,
and cinema.”
Cristina Sivieri Tagliabue, “Danza in Digitale:
Avventure in Mondo Virtuali arriva a Maggio
“Mixed Reality” Di Richard James Allen”, Nova¸ April 29, 2010
• “Entanglement Theory, the first dance movie that sees human dancers in a performance dialogue with their avatar.”
Silvia Pino, “Il coreografo elettronico: Avatar dancers land in Naples”,
DanzaBlog, May 14, 2010
• “Contemporary dance meets the language of multimedia communications. From this innovative experiment was born 'Entanglement Theory'…The idea stems from creativity 'of two minds, those of Australian Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman, who run The Physical TV Company in Sydney. Entanglement Theory is one of the few commercially available examples of ' mixed reality ', a multimedia stream of research that combines the real and the virtual world, with particular reference to the virtual Second Life online. The result is a succession of scenes in which dancers perform in true symbiosis with colleagues' avatars, offering a performance that erases the conventional perceptions of time and space. …The works of Allen and Pearlman have already arrived in universities and research centers all over the world and their first films for mobile, Thursday's Fictions and The Kamikaze Mind - Haiku received several awards in the most prestigious international festivals.”
“Cellulare Dance: Dancers And Real Avatar Films For 3d On The Phone”,
Capri News, 13/05/2010
Reviews - Australia
“There are in Entanglement Theory moments of supple elegance and in the overall oscillation between worlds a fluidity of movement and editing that makes for a seductive reverie.”
RealTime, “dance, animation & other realities”,
RealTime 99, Oct/Nov 2010, p 18.
2006 THURSDAY’S FICTIONS
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- USA (NTSC) - Australia and New Zealand (PAL) - UK, Europe and Asia (PAL)" The highest accolade goes to Thursday’s Fictions... At a time when fantasy is generally dumbed-down for Hollywood, it raises the genre back to the inspirational heights of its birthright...The film is a triumph.
Chris Docker, Eye For Film (read full review - DanceFilm Festival highlights)
"The Pan’s Labyrinth of dance...Thursday’s Fictions is audacious. A mesmerising fantasy, a sensuous, oneiric landscape that reaches past the process of watching film. A story you will experience rather than follow (in the usual sense), almost as if a forgotten synapse has been tweaked and brought to life. Like a new bardo. A fresh, entrancing mythology. ‘Fictions’ that, like ideas and meanings, can quickly solidify in new and unexpected pathways...
"Thursday’s Fictions is by turn beautiful, unsettling or inspiring. It is visually ravishing and, at times, scary. Conceptually and cinematically, it is no less than a work of genius. I don’t think I can remember a time when I wished I had more than five stars to give a film. Quite simply, it is the best piece of cinema I’ve seen this year."
"The production is exquisite, intriguing and exuding art. The Director and Choreographer Richard James Allen created a world of fantasy in which erotic and stunning imagery unfolds in front of your eyes. The drama is embedded with horror and sexuality, with passion and pain, beauty and nightmares. Thursday’s Fictions is in a way an opera in which dance and drama are the centre piece. The choreography is quite rich and original and the dancers’ performance is sumptuous. The original orchestral music in this production is enthralling and moves the audience through sounds that go from the poetic to the dramatic."
Dr Beatriz Copello, Meapcare
“[A] visually and aurally sumptuous production…a visceral pleasure...[Director Richard James] Allen brings a dancer’s and choreographer’s embodied understanding of subjective engagement to his overall direction of the film…
In reflecting upon the effectiveness of using movement to inform the audience of characterisation, at an embodied, preverbal level of consciousness, perhaps the closest comparison to be made in contemporary popular cinema-going might be that of the recent martial spectacles, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000), Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002), and House of Flying Daggers (Zhang Yimou, 2004). These films convey much of the desires and intentionality of the characters’ lives through the way they move and interact on screen. But an important difference between Thursday’s Fictions and these films is that martial arts movies are, in the end, about using movement to protect one’s self while injuring another. The pleasure of seeing a diverse range of movement patterns used to convey intentionality and interaction, without feeling constantly assaulted, is one of the satisfying qualities achieved by [Karen] Pearlman’s intuitive and sensitive approach to editing.”
Dr Mark Seton, "Movement towards innovation", Metro Magazine, Issue 154, October 2007 (full text pdf)
“So intense, so kinetic, original and dark. Lovely."
Sara Rudner, New York Choreographer
“A masterpiece."
Anna Brady Nuse, Festival Coordinator,
Dance On Camera Festival, New York
“A wonderful film! I love the ‘Dance Opera’ mythology. Intense and captivating and beautiful and uplifting.”
Jodi Kaplan, www.jodikaplan.com
“A sweeping and sensual cinematic experience of music, dance and surreal fantasy - a shining example of putting the art back in arthouse.”
Leslie Harlow, Festival Director, Park City Film Music Festival,
Gold Medal Award Citation,
Director’s Choice for Artistic Excellence in a Feature Film.
“A wildly inventive and highly entertaining film."
Andrew Mackie, Dendy Films
“'Thursday's Fictions' is mesmerizing and fulfills the foremost requirement
in the art of filmmaking, which is to experiment with content and form equally.”
Vahid Vahed, Artistic Director, CINEWEST and Festival Director,
The Fourth and the Last Experimental International Film Festival (flEXiff)
“A dramatic and emotive film which is unique and captures dance
in a way I have not seen before on film”.
Edweana Wenkart, Director, Tsuki Pty Ltd
“This (Australian) work is singular in its vision to create a full length dance film that is an amalgam of dance, music and drama.…The commitment and tenacity it takes to produce, on film, a dance work of this length, is testament to the company’s drive and vision.”
David Corbet, Artistic Program Manager, Dance Flicks
2004 TOGETHER
“I would love to have seen Together among the prizewinners. Madeleine Hetherton directed choreographer Rowan Marchingo and Alexandra Harrison in a extract from a piece they have performed at Belvoir Street Theatre. The nine-minute film version is set in a house. He walks in and remembers their tumultuous relationship, replayed in the remarkable, intense physicality of these two powerful and sensitive performers.”
Jill Sykes, review of Reeldance, Sydney Morning Herald, August 3, 2004.
“Fine portrait of a volatile relationship.”
Deborah Jones, The Australian, 2004
“…highly skilled dancers…woven into an interesting plot…
excellent direction and good cinematography.”
Chloe Smethurst, The Age, 2005
2003 DOWN TIME JAZ Order DVD (Aust & NZ) (USA)
Judges Comments, Winner, Dance for the Camera Festival at the University of Utah
“Animated portion is well done. Child narration is delightful, visually, very strong. Has clear focus, and is satisfying to watch. Wonderful film. Charming technically well built piece.”
Renee Wadleigh, Professor at Champaign Urbana
“Delightful Whimsical story Surreal cutout section is magical and home section is convincing – child performers wonderful and used very well.”
Martha Curtis, Chair of the Dance Program at Virginia Commonwealth University.
“Nice animation.”
Bob Lockyer, former producer of Dance for the Camera programming at the BBC
2002 NO SURRENDER Order DVD (Aust & NZ) (USA)
“A powerful partnership of performance and screen techniques…a memorable short film.”
Jill Sykes, The Sydney Morning Herald
“No Surrender points the way to the possibilities that abound when collaboration occurs across forms and new technologies are integrated into the totality of the vision.”
Hunter Cordaiy, RealTime/New Media Scan 2002: film
2001 RUBBERMAN ACCEPTS THE NOBEL PRIZE Order DVD (Aust & NZ) (USA)
“Part poetic manifesto, part movement piece, Rubberman also does karate in comic strip colours, KAPOW! style text harking back to the days of cheesy Batman stoushes. Warped screen effects and lightning zooms show that the Physical TV Company is easing with maturity into film, doing much more with it than merely recording performance. They also seem to be the only bunch attempting this sort of thing in Australia, and doing it well.”
Christopher Strickland, Independent Filmmaker
1997 THE HOPE MACHINE
"The understanding and patience at times required...to accept such a new innovative style of production and editing has been extremely beneficial and all involved have broadened their skills from the experience."
Ren Middleton, Operations Manager, Southern Cross Television
1997 13 ACTS OF UNFULFILLED LOVE
"In recording the poetry...[we were] plagued with technical problems in the studio....I was aware of Karen and Richard's refusal to compromise or accept second-best. Particularly in the second session, Richard demonstrated a meticulousness and precision in directing me in order to obtain the particular nuances he wanted from the words. For an actor, this was a challenging and satisfying experience."
Michael Edgar, Actor, Lecturer in Drama, University of Tasmania
"Their mixture of video and dance arts is perfectly spliced together to form a unique, fresh and exciting visual experience which can only be described as masterful!"
Geoff Clifton, Artistic Director, Bathurst Film Festival
1997 THE FRIGHTENING OF ANGELS
"Very well produced, with striking cinematography."
Cynthia Mann, Australian Film Institute
"It is very tasteful, watchable and disturbing at the same time."
Geoff Clifton, Director, Bathurst Film Festival, Central Western Daily
1995 WHAT TO NAME YOUR BABY
"Ms Pearlman, many months pregnant, dances as if she's carrying a soufflé; Mr. Allen provides the poetic narrative about the angst of having a baby."
Dulcie Leimbach, The New York Times
“A sweet-natured and witty look at the pre-parental state.”
Danielle Wood, The Mercury
1993 BLUE CITIES
"Blue Cities is an encounter between a gently bureaucratic border angel and a woman caught in limbo between death and heaven.”
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
"Touchingly evoked the uncertainties of fallible human beings when confronted with by eternal mysteries."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
1996 SAM IN A PRAM
"I know I, with other invited guests, were captivated by your artistic interpretation and movement and I eagerly look forward to future presentations."
David Heath, Manager, Village Launceston
1985 THE WAY OUT AT LAST & OTHER WORK
"A journey into the unconscious. Both verbal and visual images swirl and fade in this experiment with video as an artistic medium. Mr. Allen is a talented, award-winning young poet. His imagery and the cadence of his many phrases are haunting."
Nancy Jack Todd, The Falmouth Enterprise
Plays and ‘Dance Plays’
1995 THURSDAY'S FICTIONS
"What a fascinating, challenging, thoughtful, exciting and confrontingly entertaining piece of creativity this unusual presentation is…The story is told through a mind-blowing mix of dance, drama, performance poetry, a radio play and music – all exquisitely dressed, simply but powerfully set, and masterfully lit…Underpinning everything is the rich poetry of Richard James Allen’s text with its storm of ideas...an unforgettable night."
Wal Eastman, The Mercury
1993 BLUE CITIES
"Witty, provocative, accessible."
Jeremy Eccles, The Sydney Review
“This highly literary, stimulating and energetic blend of dance and theatre…communicates in mixed media with unequivocal clarity.”
Larry Ruffell, The Canberra Times
1992 IF WAR WERE A DANCE
"Immensely moving."
Colin Campbell, Dance Australia
"A North Queensland treasure."
Heather Harvey, The Cairns Post
1991 GRAND ILLUSION JOE
"Original and compelling...the exciting sense of newness afoot."
Phyllis Fahrie Edelson, Antipodes (USA)
1989 THE CHARLIE STORIES
"The Charlie Stories chronicles the life of an individual who searches out sensation through immersion in the lower depths....an existential examination of the fragility of civilization."
Suzanne Carbonneau Levy, The Washington Post
“The Charlie Stories are odd, idiosyncratic and yet spot-on for our times…superb and beautiful dance allied to a restless intellectual poesy.”
Mary Brennan, The Glasgow Herald
Dance Text Performance Works
2002 RUBBERMAN’S DICTIONARY
“Richard James Allen is Australia's most successful performance poet - having achieved high artistic recognition in all three fields of performance poet, performance and poetry. In performance poetry Richard has made a unique contribution through his integration of the live performance of poetry with dance and yoga in a number of significant works.”
Nick Sykes, Secretary of the Poets Union Inc., 1995-1998,
and author of “Manifesto for an Australian Oral Poetry”.
1996 NEW LIFE ON THE 2ND FLOOR:
THE FRIGHTENING OF ANGELS
13 ACTS OF UNFULFILLED LOVE
THE HOPE MACHINE
"The effect of the three pieces together is of seeing living beings choosing vibrancy and hope, having been exposed to a range of forces both life-giving and destructive."
Angela Rockell, RealTime
1994 WHAT TO NAME YOUR BABY, 1995 SAM IN A PRAM
"A multi-media funfest and think tank all rolled into one."
Jeff Hockley, The Examiner
"A whirlwind of magnificent dance…superbly choreographed.”
The Advocate
1993 BRIDGE
"To craft the myriad jagged fragments of madness into a...mosaic containing beauty, wisdom and humour is an admirable feat."
Dennis Nicholson, Mattoid
1992 REHEARSALS FOR HEAVEN
"Pearlman and Allen's work is utterly distinctive in its seamless and effortless intertwining of voice and dance...I was impressed with the ease with which Pearlman and Allen transformed a large group of students into an effective, collaborative team. The work combined everyday movements, dance and a range of vocal forms into an engaging experience for performers and audience. Pearlman and Allen are excellent teachers."
Keith Gallasch, Co-Director, Open City
1990 PLAN AHEAD
"As a study in madness, it's terrifying."
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
1990 LUCK
"Text and movement slide more subtly apart in Luck...shadowy but beguiling."
Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice
1988 HOTELS
"A wild romp."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
1987 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: OVER TEN MILLION COPIES SOLD
"Real harmony of poetry and dance without making either art imitate the other."
Jack Anderson, The New York Times
1987 ALPHABET x 2
"Stunning."
Paul Bloch, Commonwealth Times
"So ferociously watchable...their developing style...has an exhilaratingly wide reach, a willingness to juxtapose patterns and pace...in clever variety."
Mary Brennan, Glasgow Herald
1987 THE LAUGHING MOVIE
"The quirky choreography, as full of delightful non sequiturs as Mr. Allen's tantalizing poems, proposes a dizzying number of ideas and images that click into place for an instant, like a film run fast forward, or a kaleidoscope."
Susan F. Hunter, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
1986 WHITE
"Powerful images of love, torment, exhaustion and pain."
Marcia Urban, The Coastline News
1985 THINK TOO MUCH
"Exhilarating for its speed, energy and attack."
Jill Sykes, The Sydney Morning Herald
1985 AMERICA
"Moving...courageous...never flagged for an instant."
Nancy Jack Todd, The Falmouth Enterprise
Books on Dance and Performance
1999 PERFORMING THE UNNAMEABLE:
AN ANTHOLOGY OF AUSTRALIAN PERFORMANCE TEXTS Order
“This is a remarkable achievement showing how performance can be a platform for new ways of writing and an area of literary invention and achievement. Challenging, rewarding, confronting but essential reading. Make sure you buy and read Performing the Unnameable.”
Bill Simon, Metaphor
“RealTime 28 celebrates a major event in arts publishing: the first collection of Australian performance texts…Performing the Unnameable pays homage to some 2 decades of significant and innovative engagements between performers and the idea of theatre that have yielded an open-ended form often simply called performance. These works radically juxtapose a range of media, they evolve collaboratively, incorporate audiences into performances and…test the limits of the word…a rich repository of the ways that performance texts work”
Keith Gallasch, Editorial, RealTime
“A first in Australian publishing history and a priceless resource.”
Edward Scheer, Heat
1996 NEW LIFE ON THE 2ND FLOOR
"Unlike anything I have read before which pertains to dance...powerful...a treasure."
Lisa Catherine Ehrich, Social Alternatives
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