Expressions Dance Company: "SOLO Festival of Dance" -
Cremorne Theatre, 15 May -
Natalie Weir first realised her concept of a solo only program in 2011, in an extravagant seven-program season featuring eighteen dancers. This time “SOLO Festival of Dance” comprised two different programs performed over subsequent weekends, featuring thirteen dancers. The opening program had eight of those dancers performing ten solos, many of them world premieres.
As in 2011, while dancers from Expressions Dance Company (EDC) were predominant, Weir drew both dancers and choreographers from other companies across the nation, as well as from the independent dance sector. It made for a rich mix of talent, both young and seasoned. Contrasting with contemporary dance’s usual focus on the ensemble, it also allowed a rare chance to relish the talents of the individual.
And there was plenty to relish. With the stage floor at eye level, however, and several tables of people in cabaret style seating between, from my vantage point much of the more grounded floor movement, which is best viewed from an angle slightly above, was obscured. Unsurprisingly therefore, I was galvanised most by those solos that were more upright than not.
EDC’s Jack Ziesing performed twice. In Natalie Weir’s beautifully crafted Seven Ages, he carefully drew seven different pairs of shoes symbolising the ages of man, from an old suitcase, progressively aligning them in a poetic study of the passing of time. He was also compelling in Antony Hamilton’s Point of Return, an almost static improvisational study using quite primal-looking movement of the upper body and arms. Although the parameters of the improvisation were unclear, there was a palpable tension between Ziesing and the laser beam aimed at his body.
We were also in safe hands with independent performer and choreographer Brian Lucas and the world premiere of CON, a tightly constructed, witty but biting political satire. His controlled use of voice and minimal but fluid, almost slippery movement made this a commanding performance.
The huge body of work behind Daryl Brandwood (EDC) was clearly evident in Daniel Jaber’s Anatomically Incorrect, a clever look at the unnaturalness of classical dance, which nevertheless demands a command of this technique that was delivered in articulate spades by Brandwood. At the other end of the experience spectrum, QUT student Cloudia Elder was delightfully sassy in Csaba Buday’s frothy exploration of seduction, Human Fly.
Unsurprisingly, Garry Stewart (ADT) gave us the most percussive work of the program with the premiere of Morphology, performed by ADT dancer, Kimball Wong. To a soundscape of echoing bangs, Wong enthralled with his extraordinary facility and commitment and, although I couldn’t see them all, a virtuosic display of physical pyrotechnics.
Following, and in stark contrast, live cello accompanied the seated Michelle Ryan (artistic director of Restless Dance) in Falling, where exquisitely delicate shapes were carved in the air by the mesmeric folding and unfolding of her arms and hands.
Dancenorth’s Raewyn Hill delivers a tornado of movement up and down a diagonal shaft of light in Together into the Abyss, danced with an exhausting relentlessness by Alice Hinde. A higher vantage point here would have also improved appreciation of the movement construct.
Benjamin Chapman (EDC) also performed two works – EDC’s Elise May’s The Man of Many Talents, which, in its exploration of the manifestations of a child’s play in adult life, would benefit from a smaller thematic focus, and also Weir’s Weeping Angel, an excerpt from EDC’s forthcoming production of The Red Shoes. The rippling muscularity of Chapman’s back was the galvanising feature of this piece.
May also performed – in Narelle Benjamin’s Close to the Bone. Another world premiere, where a red chrysanthemum clasped in May’s hand and then mouth, acts as a metaphor for a life, this fluid but very grounded piece was almost impossible to see clearly, therefore I cannot offer an opinion. I intend returning for the second program to sit higher!
- DENISE RICHARDSON