Presented by Dancehouse as part of Dance Massive.
20th – 22nd March, 2015

10,000 small deaths is a solo dance performance exploring the poetics and immediacy of the body. The work foregrounds the experiential body and has been inspired by many sources along the way – from manga artist Takaya Miou to Jim Jarmusch’s film, Dead Man.

The linking thread between these various sources is a contemplation of the inextricable link between life and death and the continuous change and impermanence that mark our existence. The transience of our corporeality and the beauty and sadness of existence are meditated upon; personal and universal images merge; and there is an interplay between the real, the imagined and a seeking of what has not yet come into being.

Reviews of 10,000 Small Deaths;

“Paula Lay’s exquisite solo work explores the very core of our physicality as we journey from non-being to being and back again. At once sexy and restrained, 10,000 Small Deaths is a work of fine details and surreal minimalism. Alone on stage, Lay is sinewy, fragile and powerful…This is a beautiful, brooding work of both struggle and surrender.”
Paul Ransom themusic.com.au

“Paula Lay blends fluidity with strength in study of life and death…for choreographer and performer Paula Lay, working with experienced composer Kelly Ryall as well as video artist/dramaturge Martyn Coutts and filmmaker Mischa Baka, has allowed her to create a multidimensional contemplation of life and death.”
Chloe Smethurst, The Age

“Paula Lay’s “10,000 small deaths,” in particular, conveyed the beauty of the human condition through its strength and fragility. Every fluid arm extension to sickled foot in “10,000 small deaths” appeared as a considered meditation, finely honed, and thus beautifully brief.”
Gracia Haby, Fjord Review