Artistic Direction by Ruth Osborne.
Choreographed by Jodie Farrugia, Olivia Fyfe, Luke
Fryer and Ruth Osborne.
Lighting and sound by Craig Dear. Costumes by Ruth
Osborne
Presented by QL2 Dance – Theatre 3, Acton – 19th
and 20th October, 2018.
Reviewed by Bill Stephens
This annual presentation, the first of three presented
by QL2 each year showcasing different aspects and stages of the QL2 Dance
process, focusses on its “Chaos” project; the entry point for young dancers
preparing to join the Quantum Leap youth dance ensemble.
This year, 45 dancers aged 8 – 19 years, augmented by
several of the senior Quantum Leap dancers who help provide guidance for the
younger ones, worked with three experienced choreographers, all of whom have
previously participated in QL2 Dance programs, and QL2’s Artistic Director,
Ruth Osborne, to create this program.
The theme for this year, “Belong”, challenged the four
choreographers, Jody Farrugia, Olivia Fyfe, Luke Fryer and Ruth Osborne, to
each choreograph ensemble dances which not only addressed the theme, but also
embraced the varied dance experience of the young dancers participating in the
program. It was a challenge they met with remarkable imagination and resourcefulness,
creating an impressive, slickly produced work which was thoughtful, even
provocative, but also confidently performed and continuously entertaining.
Performed in simple, appropriate costumes and
supported with excellent music choices and evocative lighting, the program got
off to a spectacular start with “Everyone Belongs Somewhere”, a rousing piece
by Ruth Osborne, in which the young dancers, costumed in colourful, T-shirts
and shorts, careered around the stage creating ever-changing patterns and
groupings as they sorted out a place in which to belong. Assuming various
animalistic traits they then performed Olivia Fyfe’s amusing exploration of
schoolyard behavior in “In The (Jungle) Schoolyard, The Mighty (Jungle)
Schoolyard … We all learn how to get along”.
Jodie Farrugia incorporated props into both her works.
For “Connection”, the dancers manipulated white tape to form complex patterns
through which they weaved to illustrate the notion of six degrees of
separation, while “Disconnection”, was perfectly illustrated by the dancers
separating themselves from each other, and their audience, with their
absent-minded preoccupation with their smart phones.
Luke Fryer took puzzles as the inspiration for his
work “Piecing Together” in which the black-jacketed dancers worked at slotting
into each other and the spaces around them. His second piece “Our Heroes Are
Our Gentlemen” drew on the acrobatic abilities of some of the male dancers for a witty comment on super heroes.
All these pieces, were presented in a seamless flow of
meticulously rehearsed movement, which
climaxed with Ruth Osborne’s, “We All Matter”, in which the whole ensemble
charged onto the stage to reprise each of the works, in a series of
spectacular, cleverly-staged bows.
Cover photo by Lorna Sim
