Perth Voice Interactive

“TICK to agree to terms and conditions”. Most of us could be signing away our first-born child to Apple or Facebook because we rarely, if ever, read the tedious reams of text.

According to a 2011 UK survey a mere seven per cent of people can be bothered, with 58 per cent saying they’d rather read an instruction manual—or their power bill, and 12 per cent thought the phone book was a best-seller in comparison.

It’s an idea that intrigued dancer and choreographer Isabella Stone, who, after a coffee-cup discussion with fellow dancer Ella-Rose Trew, got to thinking about how that thinking relates to relationships—whether friends, family or lovers.

“We wondered how often we do the same thing socially, how we just jump into things without asking questions or ‘reading the fine print’.

“You meet people for the first time and you don’t research their background,” Stone says.

“In a few months, maybe a few years things unravel and you realise there are things in the relationship you haven’t agreed to at the time.”

Mouseprint (at the State Theatre) is the North Perth local’s first major work, and the 26-year-old set herself the somewhat daunting task of dealing with complex human emotions through dance.

“[Exploring] the concept of words left unsaid, the tiny changes to agreements we enter into and the constantly shifting dynamics of everyday human relationships.”

Stone tells the Voice the “story” resonates for her in every movement, of the dancers (Trew, Storm Helmore and Jenni Large): “It’s up to me to present the work and see if other people see it too.”

Performed in the State Theatre courtyard the setting is the pared back atmosphere Stone needed to allow the dance to carry the message.

“It has a cooler texture and is minimal and can feel bare and open.”

Repetition lulls the audience into thinking they know what’s coming: “Something you think you know really well will suddenly break and will be quite intense.”

Lighting is by Chris Donnelly and sound by  Brett Smith (winner of best dance at Fringe World 2013).

Mouseprint is on at the State Theatre, April 15–18. Tix $28 at eventopia.com/mouseprint

by JENNY D’ANGER