Ecstasy

The energies of outdoor raves and Christian mysticism enmesh in a rapturous Melbourne premiere of dance-ritual from one of Gadigal Land/Sydney’s most exciting artists.

Live, loud, visceral and taking place in the round, Ecstasy invites us to stretch into this seductive void. To shake free and become enraptured, inside the unknowable.

Ecstasy expands the artists’ 2024 album to an operatic scale, placing body and voice into a ritualistic communing with light and sound from above and below. A choreographic investigation into the reckless abandonment of the rave—a reach into the place where dancefloor heat goes beyond the beyond.

Musically, Whale’s production builds on cascading sub-bass and choral drone to stretch the conventions of electronic music and the human voice past their usual breaking points. Inspired by Saint Teresa of Avila’s violent rapture with angels, Whale enmeshes modes of queer performance with mystical pageantries. Tethering to baroque elation, he sends himself headfirst into a point of ekstasis—a state of being ‘outside oneself’.

The closing night of Ecstasy will see The Substation transformed into CLUB ECSTASY, a club-night of live performance and music curated by Marcus Whale. Full line up to be announced.