SOFT.co and Q Theatre present
INFLATED REBEL
August 11-15, as part of MATCHBOX 2021Jessie McCall [L] and Rose Philpott [R] - Photo credit: Ralph Brown
Perfectly balancing social provocation with relatable humanity, SOFT.co are delighted to premiere their latest feminist contemporary dance theatre piece Inflated Rebel, playing at Q Theatre’s Loft from August 11-15. This rambunctious and innovative contemporary dance theatre offering is a genre-defying bid to challenge the binaries
of obedience and rebellion, complete with oversized puffer jackets, blow-up pool toys, and inflatable set.
Bad woman. Self-inflatable insurgents in a temperate feminist cloud of rebellious intentions and depreciating values.
INFLATED REBEL walks the bind of power in its deflations and violent softness. A queer breeding experiment where we kill
the reared and feed the uncanny. Probing the binaries of orthodoxy and rebellion, courage and bravado, submission and
humility, and asks, what happens when the only thing to fear is the babe itself?
With dance at the heart of its storytelling language, the morphing textile set becomes both a costume and a character,
accompanying the pair of performers on a journey both outrightly humorous and deeply poignant. Defining the intimate
intersections between the female experience and the strange lands of their collective imagination, SOFT.co pose a series
of questions in Inflated Rebel, such as how do we be a badder bad woman? Or conversely, how do you be a gooder good
woman? Playful in the in-between, they hope the answers might scare us to death and/or climax.
Based in Tāmaki Makaurau, SOFT.co is a dance theatre company co-founded by contemporary dance artists Rose Philpott and Jessie McCall, who have worked with the likes of Footnote NZ Dance, Okareka Dance Company, Malia Johnston, and Sarah Foster-Sproull
(Foster Group). As queer, pākehā, females their work investigates the intersection of their individual lived experiences
with the strange lands of their collective imagination. Facilitating a dedicated space for their collaborative
choreographic and design work to percolate and mature, the creative duo make work together with a strong emphasis on the
female experience. Integral to the choreographic development of SOFT.co works are the visual design elements such as
costume and set design, alongside highly specific sound design, creating an immersive and cohesive world for audiences
to step into.
Inflated Rebel is one of several works that has been through SOFT.co’s unique incubation process, which allows them to
revisit and rework projects multiple times. Having its first public showing as part of the 2019 Auckland Fringe
Festival, SOFT.co then collaborated with visual artist Ralph Brown on a related digital project, ‘A Series of Inflatable
Rebellions’ in 2020. Making its premiere as part of the Q Theatre’s Creative Development Programme MATCHBOX season,
Inflated Rebel is the next chapter in the journey for these avant-garde artists. SOFT.co's other credits include their
first full length work ‘HEALR’ which sold out two consecutive Auckland seasons, at The Basement in 2016 and in Q Loft as
part of Tempo Dance Festival 2018 as a part of Tempo Dance Festival to audience and critical acclaim. The duo also
performed a section of the work to open for Aldous Harding at the Pah Homestead in 2017.
INFLATED REBEL plays
August 11-15 2021
Loft, Q Theatre
Wed-Sat, 7pm; Sun, 5pm
Tickets: $19 - $29 (Service fees may apply)
Audience Warnings/notes: Partial nudity – one breast each.