Sydney Dance Company: “Untamed”
Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay, 19 October
Sydney Dance Company’s "Untamed" program is a double bill that combines Gabrielle Nankivell’s Wildebeest with Anima, a new work by SDC artistic director Rafael Bonachela. Together they form a satisfying evening of dance, giving quite a few of SDC’s company dancers the opportunity to step away from the group and own the stage in brief solos and duets. But in Wildebeest when they come together as a group, collectively they are more synchronised and together than I have seen in recent years.
Wildebeest was created for SDC’s "New Breed" season two years ago and there is much to like about this work. The concept behind it is simple enough to understand, complex enough to offer a range of imaginative possibilities and well explained by Gabrielle Nankivell in the program. In terms of movement, Nankivell’s choreography evolves from animalistic, seemingly instinctive movements, through the consciously human to the tightly controlled and repetitive movements of a machine. Luke Smiles’s musical score fits the choreography like a glove – these two have worked on projects together before, and the end result is quite fascinating.
Standout performances in Wildebeest included Bernard Knauer’s opening solo, as languorous and elegant as one of the big cats, particularly the moment where he kneeled looking up into the light. Charmene Yap danced with the economy and clarity of movement that is unique to her. Holly Doyle moved lightning fast and was notable for the way she really projected each extended line and shape into the surrounding space. Fiona Holley’s costumes were made of material in earthy colours that had a metallic glint under the light and the loose fit around each dancers’ torso effectively shifted visual focus to what could clearly be seen, their legs, arms and faces.In Anima, the dancers are given a moving background of simple abstract forms that change colours throughout the work, courtesy of visual designer Clemens Habicht. It’s an interesting idea, and although the moving images didn’t quite gel with the dancers’ movements on opening night, it still provided a unique and engaging frame through which to view them. The Roslyn Packer Theatre stage has an enormous proscenium arch and a stage which is so wide and deep that without some sort of backdrop (and depending on how far back you are sitting), it can dwarf and overwhelm the dancing body in empty, negative space. Clemens Habicht’s visual projection stops this from occurring and is a welcome addition in that respect.
Composer Dobrinka Tabakova’s emotive music for strings nicely reflects Rafael Bonachela’s theme of spirit or soul, that which ‘animates’ the body. In turn, Bonachela’s choreography is more dramatic and expressive than physically combative and athletic. Standout performances on the night came from Petros Treklis, both in a solo, and in a duet with Cass Mortimer Eipper where both men impressed. Among the women, Jesse Scales displayed a sharp energy and exuberance that caught the eye and again, Holly Doyle stood out.
Alisa Jelbart’s white costumes have the appearance of white undergarments and are effective in making the body an empty, white canvas for Habicht’s abstract coloured projections. They weren’t particularly flattering on every dancer (and how hard is it to make a dancer look good?!) but conceptually they made sense, and lighting design by Ben Cisterne (for both works) was effective.
- GERALDINE HIGGINSON
