New Breed
Bay 20, Carriageworks, Redfern
November 26
How time flies.
It’s hard to believe that Sydney Dance Company’s New Breed season is now in its seventh year. This valuable program gives emerging choreographers drawn both from the company’s own dancers and from the wider community the opportunity to create short new works on the company. Usually, it is the last program of SDC’s annual season but with all prior performances this year cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, this iteration of New Breed is actually the first, and the last time SDC is performing on stage in 2020. Understandably, given these circumstances there were more speeches than your average opening night - with many in the audience clearly moved and excited to be attending a live dance performance again.
The program opened with Inertia, a work by SDC company dancer Jesse Scales which was intriguing and well structured. In this work the individual, danced convincingly here by Victor Zarallo, is shown in stark opposition to the ensemble group who taunt and victimise him. The simple addition of an older style lamp post on the otherwise bare stage made it clear that the action was unfolding outdoors in a public space. Meanwhile the light emanating from it indicated it was evening, while also giving the dancers a source of light that was more than an aesthetic decision. Scales’ choreography for the ensemble showed an excellent use of spatial patterning which is even more impressive when you consider the choreographic process and development of this work started not in the studio with the dancers physically present but with the choreographer and dancers communicating virtually via Zoom. Inertia was set to music by Johann Johannson, Nils Frahm and Anne Muller; I would happily watch this again.
Nostalgia, choreographed by SDC company dancer Chloe Leong (with music by Rob Campbell) was a much smaller, more introverted work. With a cast of two men, danced here by Davide Di Giovanni and Luke Hayward, the highlights were in the finer detail of the way one movement linked to the next, rather than in the choreographic shape of the work as a whole. The lighting was very dark at times and the work felt quite opaque – but in fairness Leong’s program notes stated that it was not intended for the audience to understand by being literal.
Joel Bray’s Wagan (music by Yuin composer Brenda Gifford)is the most overtly theatrical of the four. As a Wiradjuri man (Wagan is the Wiradjuri word for raven or crow) he contrasts a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (featuring a large flock of menacing crows)with his own inspirational experience of a flock of birds playing and swooping on Wiradjuri country almost 20 years ago. The movement vocabulary of the dancers playing birds was beautiful to watch (Bray gave full credit to the dancers for their work in developing the movement) and Mia Thompson was a standout. In another scene Dean Elliott had a somewhat comical turn recreating a scene as actress Tippi Hedren (in matching green dress and blonde wig) while the actual scene from Hitchcock’s movie was projected behind him.
There was plenty of notice, both by email in advance, and on the night, about the potentially offensive nature of Raghav Handa’s Cult of the Titans. Handa’s work (music by composer James Brown) shines a light on the cultural appropriation of the swastika from Hindu culture (where it had far more positive associations with peace and good fortune) to Nazi Germany, and more broadly today with fascist and authoritarian beliefs. And when I say it “shines a light” I mean that quite literally – as in the opening scenes the swastika is projected by hand by with a torch through a round screen – although it is mostly quite hazy, transparent and misshapen. The symbol itself was not easy to see clearly and was far from the stark black on white insignia that initially comes to mind. There is a repetitious duet, danced here by Jesse Scales and Luke Hayward, whereby they circled themselves and each other, entering into what seemed to be a trance-like state. In later scenes this contrasted strongly with some forceful, aggressive movements from the ensemble.
Costume designer Aleisa Jelbart and lighting designer Alexander Berlage contributed to all four works and gave the program a polished, professional appearance. And despite the long hiatus the dancers largely rose to the technical and artistic challenges of each work with no apparent difficulty. Programs were electronic and emailed through in advance while filmed recordings of each choreographer briefly introducing their works were played just before each work was performed – a welcome addition from an audience perspective.
– GERALDINE HIGGINSON
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