Giselle

State Theatre

Melbourne, Australia

September 3, 2018

For the uninitiated: Giselle is a romantic ballet in two contrasting acts, which was first performed in the first half of the nineteenth century in France. In essence, Giselle’s storyline is comprised of the passions and dramas that make humans tick, i.e. the cycle of love, deceit, heartache and ultimately forgiveness. What sounds like what could be a cliché-laden exercise is one of the most iconic and hauntingly beautiful performances on this earthround and even if you perceive ballet to be “not your thing”, it shall prove hard to not be won over by the story of this classic tale, which has never lost relevance.

Two acts are juxtaposed: What starts off in a naturalist forest environment is followed by activity within the confines of an otherworldly cemetary.

Maina Gielgud’s production is traditional in the best sense as it puts the focus firmly on the expression of the dance and has both characters and the story clearly identified, so no effort is needed to follow the narrative.

Gielgud’s meticulous choreography is outstanding and at times the dense accumulation of formations is almost overwhelming, which prompts more than once spontaneous applause as the  

The sharp yet subtle and evocative stage sets of the two acts is detailed and rich courtesy of Peter Farmer, which in both cases is embedded by William Akers’ lighting which adds nuances on the dancers performances, highlighting their features, which adds another dimension specifically to the second act.

Adolphe Adam’s score reinterpreted courtesy of Orchestra Victoria under the guidance of conductor Simon Hewett frames Australian Ballet’s incarnation of Giselle in a lively and engaging context that does not let up throughout both acts and supports the narrative succinctly.

Australian Ballet’s reimagined Giselle is a tour de force of visually compelling and physically thrilling dance theatre group work fuelled by passion and visceral, life affirming energy, which finds its most impressive expressions in the vividly acted romantic duets and fluidly danced pas de deux.

Thanks to powerful and theatrical performances that have both depth like this and radiantly convey the passions the main protagonist are driven by, Giselle shall keep shining undimmed.

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Photo courtesy of Australian Ballet

Japanese Water of Life

Sake – Toji  Sake and Four Fox Sake

If you have read a couple of my previous articles, you would know that I harbour quite a few spot for Japan, its culture and its culinary emissions - Sake being only one of them.

While I was used to enjoying Sake in Japanese restaurants around the globe, my appreciation increased exponentially for this versatile spirits once I was introduced to the tradition and educated on the creation of it in country by ‘toji’, i.e. a Japanese luminary versed in brewing it in the traditional way.

Needless to say that I was delighted to come across a local sake variant named after the profession that produces the drop, i.e. Toji Sake out of Melbourne, Australia.

Yuta Kobayashi and his wife have created an approachable sake that strikes the balance between pleasing the Western palate without diluting natural flavours and the DNA that sake in its home country is appreciated for.

Toji Sake is fresh, dry, astutely-balanced, artisanal sake that can be sipped either lightly refrigerated by itself (we are talking slightly below ten degrees Celsius, not iced, you heathen) or as a base component served as a cocktail with a twist. Purity is the credo that is the foundation on which the pure Toji Sake builds with the rice being sourced from Niigata Prefecture and the H2O straight from the Asahi Mountain range – sans any preservatives.

The bottle the sake lives in is a simple, yet expressive and beautiful work of art in itself that will adorn any liquor cabinet.

Slight change of gear:

Japanese mythology is full of wondrous allegories, stories and meaningful figures and deities.

One of the myths is cantered around Inari Okami being the god of Rice, Saké, Swordsmiths and Foxes – foxes because they were the guards of the Torii gates are were only meant to let the purest of spirits pass.

That is how the name for Four Fox Sake was derived, and the etymology is paid homage to via its crest which depicts foxes with rice fields at their feet.

Given the emphasis on purity, it is not further wondrous that the water is again sourced from snow and we find ourselves back in the Niigata area if we are looking for the place where Four Fox Sake sources it from.

Not unlike Toji  sake, Four Fox Sake is a “Junmai Daiginjo”, i.e. the highest grade and purest classification of sake, and the bottle with its wooden cap and chrome finish proves to be an apt vessel for the drink.

While I usually prefer a peaty whiskey, both Toji Sake and Four Fox Sake have become staples in my bar that are enjoyed neat and independently from Japanese fair and has long established itself as a tipple and cocktail ingredient not unlike gin or vodka.

Read more Water of Life entries here.

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Photo by @k.a.vv

Water of Life

The Whisky Club

There is no shortage when it comes to curated whisky services catering to the consumer’s every whim. Services that proffer samples, ones that send you bottles of different expressions in a bid to educate your palate and enable a deeper appreciation of the water of life, et cetera et cetera.

Then there is The Whisky Club.

The premise and underpinning idea behind the foundation of the club is that there is a myriad of superior whiskies in the dens of Scottish and Irish distilleries that one never gets exposed to, let alone have a chance to sample dram on terra australis. In a day and age where whisky in all its variations has undergone a renaissance of epic proportions and the public demand outweighing the available stock in the mother countries, other countries have established themselves firmly on the firmament of great whisky producers, e.g. Taiwan, India, France, Sweden or Tasmania.

The Whisky Club works with the premise to offer its members the chance to purchase exclusive imports on a monthly basis, with each release being embedded in a wealth of information that educates the club member on its origin and genesis.

If you are remotely into whisky and based in Australia, eventually you will come across The Whisky Club as it is a highly esteemed institution that finds approval from industry and connoisseurs alike. It is not further surprising that the club has a significant membership size, which in turn equips the club with significant buying power. Using the aforementioned buying power and its industry contacts, The Whisky Club is on a constant mission to source quality whiskies that its members will love and deliver them to them by importing the whiskies directly and exclusively for the club.

Headed by whisky luminary Bertie Cason, known from his roles in industry peak bodies and who among other accolades is the gentleman that hand selected Sullivans Cove World Whiskies Awards winning expression and propelled the brand to one of the highest coveted whisky houses on this earthround, which changed the Australian industry forever, personally selects the club’s offerings.

Needless to mention that the club has achieved a status and appreciation that has big whisky brands approaching them to exclusively launch new releases in Australia to establish an appreciation through the club’s reach and base of whisky aficionados before it trickles down the mainstream markets.

While some clubs can be quite elitist and snobby, The Whisky Club embraces not only hard-core enthusiasts but everyone with a bit more refined interest in whisky and caters to their needs, with the individual bottlings being kept at an affordable range of AU$110-125 being only one of the features apart from offering members the chance to opt out and only buy what they would like to buy. A sign of quality as time has shown that once a member experiences the quality of the exclusive expressions delivered to the confines of their home, they grow used to it and appreciate exploring flavours and nuances they normally would have not tried. Offering its members access and discounts at Australia’s most prominent whisky haunts and thereby creating a national Clubhouse network or organising field trips are additional perks of joining the club for a whisky journey of epic proportions.

Case in point – your humble narrator, who experienced what currently over 5000 members have access to:

I personally harbor a weak spot for peated and Japanese whiskies and while I am always eager to sample new variations on international travel, I’d have struggled to name but a few French distilleries that rock my palate. That was until The Whisky Club exposed me to Armorik’s Whisky de Bretagne Small Batch Single Malt, the July 2018 Whisky of the Month:

July 2018 marked the fourth anniversary of the club and the way Armorik’s emission was presented was a spectacular “liquid birthday cake” and boy, what a drop it is!

Living up to the flavour nuances it was being touted to achieve, i.e. crème brûlée and vanilla gâteux  with hints of poached peaches, warming spice and toffee is quite, is no mean feat and expectations were exceedingly high before I even opened the bottle.

While the first sip of Armorik’s rich, golden yellow, fruity first one-hundred percent American oak matured single malt distillate was a thing of beauty, the way it evolves and grows slowly unfolding worlds of complex yet accessible flavour nuances is one indulgent exercise in decadence. The fact that I insisted my better half, who is a gin enthusiast, to at least sample it and see her demand a second helping speaks books about the quality of the drop. Calling the drop “moreish” is an understatement par excellence – a whisky of elegance that goes dangerously well with chocolate.

As mentioned above, the Armorik Distillery’s (originally known as Distillerie Warenghem) small batch expression came with a wealth of information, shedding light on their artisanal ‘pâtisserie of whisky making’ in the Bretagne, France’s officially recognised whisky region, which features a similar climate to Scotland’s west coast. It was interesting to learn how the distillery sources its H2O from a hundred meter deep well called Rest Avel with the local granite bedrock making the water slightly acidic and helps develop fruity aromas during fermentation along with the use of barley from the Champagne region. Needless to say that Armorik takes full advantage of the local supply of casks that had previously been used for French wines and spirits, which are usually used for limited edition single casks.

Let’s change a gear and have a look at The Whisky club’s August 2018 Whisky of the Month, shall we?

United Kingdom’s small craft operation St George’s Distillery, which was established in 2006 under the benign guidance and curation of brewer by trade David Fitt presents The English Single Malt Small Batch Release exclusively created for The Whisky Club.

Looking at The Whisky Club’s releases, it tells the story of connoisseurs usually sticking to Scotches and the occasional Australian, Japanese or rare other detours, so there must be reason for going for an English release. And reasons there are galore:

Now, while the Armorik was French patisserie in a bottle, this little number is the English counterpart and an extension of the previous month’s offering: Layers of fruity nuances pervaded by hints of vanilla, nuts and milk chocolate.

St George’s scrummy craft whisky The English, which matured in selected ex-Jim Beam casks is pleasant after the first sip yet grows exponentially with its sweet elegance, clean and crisp citrus textures that culminate in a melange of tropical fruits. Soft on the palate it leaves with that perfect hit of oak on top a bed of milk chocolate.

Sounds like poetry in motion?

Well, it is and it makes one giddy with anticipation of The Whisky Club’s next move: The Glenturret Single Malt Scotch Whisky, which as it is being fabled about around the campfire to be a well-balanced expression that encompasses a melange of BBQ, chocolate, salt and spice notes substantiated with an underlying smoke- and sweetness.

Water of Life – The Right Vessel

Okay, seriously, sisters and brethren – I take that we are enjoying and experiencing whisky and not shooting it?

Good.

Sipping whisky is a savouring pastime and it demands an appropriate vessel. A vessel that allows you to experience all nuances of its appearance, smell and subtle nuances. After all, the right glass can enhance your indulgence with its thickness, shape, size, grip, weight and, possibly most importantly, the nosing capability.

Now, you might like the heft of crystal tumbler housing your whisky on the rocks.

Sure, looks good but that method does not necessarily channel the whisky’s aroma in the best manner possible.

I never got into snifters, so I cannot really tell what merits they may have but I find them not to be the easiest to drink out of.

The tulip shaped Glencairn, which has been specifically developed for enjoying whisky has become my go-to over the years as I find it to combine the best qualities of all different whisky glasses. Given the good job it does and the fact that it is easy on the eye, I do not find it further wondrous that it was the first one that has become officially endorsed by peak bodies like e.g. the Scotch Whiskey Association.

Recently I was introduced to a Norlan, a brand that focuses on modernizing the whisky drinking pleasure through design and a scientific approach.

They have designed a hand-blown lightweight whisky chalice made of a type of glass with silica and boron trioxide as the main glass-forming constituents.

Gimmick of the goblet is the transparency the two different molds provide, which have been fused and sealed together. The result is an aesthetically pleasing hollow body glass with the outside shape being the diametric opposite of the inside shape.

Neat.

The inside of the mug does wonders for aeration adding character and depth to the expression of the whisky you are nipping from.

Apart from having an interesting shape, the whisky drinking experience is enhanced by its concaveness which naturally meets the lower lip of your pie hole.

A glass I’d recommend to both casual aficionados as well as connoisseurs as it combines an attractive aesthetic with the functional qualities known from glasses like the Glencairn.

Read more Water of Life entries here.

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Photos by @k.a.vv

Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art

Nelson Atkins

Spirituality, huh? There is a case to be made for it being essential for existence not unlike a fire is for a candle.

Some would claim the same for art and even go a step further claiming that art is not merely what is seen but what it makes other see, which make it come full circle and links it to spirituality.

Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art is a tome focused – as the telling title suggests – on the linkages between spiritual elements in art of the last three decades. What I found interesting is that it extends its scope far beyond the confines of merely Western art and reaches into Indigenous and other cultures, which depending on the specific culture are at times centred around spiritual motives.

In essence, the book is a celebration of diversity and plurality with not merely depicting artworks but substantiating them with well-researched elaborations, which tackle sujets from different angles to provide a holistic outlook that is calibrated at a level which should hold the interest of both academic as well as general audiences.

It goes deeper that mere face value level examinations of mainstream art and refrains from preaching to the converted: There is no need to be a spiritual person to be intrigued by the subject matter and, as a matter of fact, the book specifically appeals not only to believers but also agnostics and sceptics alike by addressing fundamental questions that concern all of us, which serves as a common foundation and denomination for the essays.

If you are into art for more than mere aesthetics and “art pour l’art” this one is something that you should not go without in your library.

Blasted

Malthouse Theatre

Melbourne, Australia

August 31, 2018

Artist provocateur Sarah Kane’s polarising play has been described as being one of the more shocking and provocative ones.

Dysfunctional, alcohol addled tabloid journalist meets trouble young woman in Leeds, England. The act of seduction goes awry, gets out of hand and we are catapulted into a war torn environment where the arrival of soldier escalates brutal events, which captures the three individuals in the confines of their hotel room bringing their inner and outer demons to live.

In essence, a musing on the lower regions of torture, human suffering, pain, points of no return and atonement.

With the production feeling borderline claustrophobic and devoid of showy elements the cast, comprised of Fayssal Bazzi, Eloise Mignon and David Woods and directed by Anne-Louise Sarks, infuse life into a play by keeping the focus on the ensemble that has been critizised for being overly reliant on shock value depictions of sex and violence by stripping it back to its bare bones.

In no uncertain terms, Blasted is essentially a war story boxed in a hotel room highlighting the interrelations between unrelenting domestic physical and psychological violence and the madness of war.

The audience becomes the voyeur, being confronted with graphic depictions of rape, violence and cannibalism on end - depictions of what populates the front pages of our newspapers every day. Fiction and dystopia that have long become reality.

Twenty-three years after it was first conceived and debated in heated manner, literally all facets of what Sarah Kane might have endeavoured to portray as prophetic in the mid-1990s are now commonplace in our mainstream culture, no matter how grotesque the violence appears to be.

The sujets of Blasted are much closer to home – literally and metaphorically – than most would want to admit.

While the Malthouse Theatre incarnation of Blasted has elements that would fit the Greek Tradition of catharsis, there is an additional contemporary dimension added, one that is all the more depressing because it resembles reality.

The impact of Blasted, a play that has over twenty-three years morphed from fiction to reality, did not leave behind an audience that was shocked anymore but one provoked to think.