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DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN

 
Ross Anthony Review by Ross Anthony 5 Published: 8 Aug 2025 Assembly Roxy Show Dates: 30 Jul 2025-10 Aug 2025

DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN is a beautiful aerial work launched into the stratosphere on wings of visual storytelling, technical brilliance and raw emotion.

I felt like I was in an art pop music video.

Donna Carnow and Gina Alm are the only members of the aerial collective Verticle Dreamscape, and this is their debut at the Fringe. Their work earns the elusive moniker “experimental” – I say this because I did not know you could do what they pulled off with an aerial performance. Their chemistry and talent are the beating heart of the show, and they treat it with the seriousness it deserves. This is highly adept, physical polework sustained for the entire runtime.

The beauty is mostly down to the two on-stage performers, but the piece is truly the whole package. The music complements and underscores; the lighting work alone is world class. From a mist-filled faescape conveyed only with soft lighting to industrial hotness simmering in the night, the lighting elevates every moment. Much of the audio is bespoke but feels familiar, with homages to ethereal indie bands such as Cigarettes After Sex. More than once, I felt like I was in an art-pop music video.

As the title suggests, DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN has clear and defined acts charting the stages of the sun setting before rising again. Each has its own distinct flavour and is delicious in its own right. While there are obvious scenes, they convey emotion and ideas as much as story, moment to moment – from a broken-heel messy break-up to dazzlingly hot sex, whimsical dalliance, and fighting to stay asleep and keep dreaming. It feels as though each segment grabs something vivid and unspoken within you, rips it from your chest and shows it to all of us so we can recognise: “That’s me, I’ve been there.” Each feels like something just beneath conscious thought – immediately evocative and intuitive – but that we had not taken the time to examine ourselves.

DUSK has a dreamy haziness that feels loose and easy to grasp, full of childlike wonder even though the piece is mature and confident in its delivery. Balloons and fantasy are the name of the game. At this stage you don’t quite know what you’re going to receive, but you’re hopeful. You wonder what dreams might come.

NIGHT cusps into being with stark lighting and industrial themes. It is messy, hot, powerful and full of bold emotion. This is no longer soft around the edges – I could taste the heartbreak as if they had pulled a tooth and my mouth was still full of blood. Rage and passion brim through striking visuals that leave little room for doubt.

DAWN takes us briefly to a space of disorientation before transforming into something hopeful and uplifting. The duo bring it home joyfully and outstandingly – a triumphal return to where the show began.

And all of this happens on aerial pole, without a syllable of dialogue. You owe it to yourself to see this performance; it is a genuine work of art, and you can thank me later.

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The Blurb:

DUSK/NIGHT/DAWN is an experimental aerial pole dance explosion created and performed by the NYC collective VERTICAL DREAMSCAPE, featuring US Pole Art Champion Donna Carnow and interdisciplinary artist/performer Gina Alm. Their hour-long montage of dream worlds is a sensual and cinematic, dark yet dazzling vision of a journey when the sun goes down – from the luminous tones of Dusk, the darkest underbelly of Night, into the messy brilliance of Dawn. This durational work pushes the performers' bodies and minds to the limit, producing a powerful, visceral and transcendent product that feels vibrant, textured, unpredictable and of an alien world.