Choreographed
by Alison Plevey with Craig Bary.
Performed
by: Ashlee Bye, Ryan Douglas Stone, Yolanda Lowatta, Craig Bary, Mikayla
Nangle, and Alex Abbot.
National
Portrait Gallery 9th and 10th April.
Reviewed by
Bill Stephens
“Connecting
Stories : Innovations” provides a
tantalising glimpse into a larger work being prepared for presentation in June as part of collaboration between professional
dance companies, Australian Dance Party and Catapult Dance and youth dance
companies, QL2 Dance, The Flipside Project and young QL2 dancers.
The
companies are joining together across borders (Canberra and Newcastle) to
create two connected works in response to “Shakespeare to Winehouse”, the
National Portrait Gallery’s current exhibition of icons from the National
Portrait Gallery, London.
“Connecting Stories:
Innovations” is the first of these works. The second larger work “Connecting Stories:
Generations “will be presented in the
National Portrait Gallery in June.
An ensemble
work for six dancers, three from each of the professional companies,
“Connecting Stories: Innovations” was choreographed by the Artistic Director of
Australian Dance Party, Alison Plevey with Catapult Dance’s Craig Bary. Bary
also danced in the piece which was performed to an evocative original
composition by Adam Ventura.
Costumed in
a variety of clothes reminiscent of various periods represented in the
exhibition the dancers perform a series of individual free-flowing lyrical moves
ending each with a moment of unison stillness as if reverting to a pose for a
portrait. As the work progressed
elements of the costumes were discarded until all six dancers were wearing
identical grey boiler suit-suit type apparel transforming into amorphous anonymity.
Images by LORNA SIM
