Me Right Now
QL2 presents Quantum Leap
The Playhouse, 9 – 12 May
The Quantum Leapers in “Me Right Now” look at identity and
today’s expectations in becoming a man or woman, whilst finding and embracing
their own identity and celebrating the joy and innocence of youth.
This production seamlessly blends four choreographers’ work
into an impressive performance.
The dancers manipulated a rope representing a timeline, a
tightrope and a one-way street, in Lina Limosani’s piece. Bearcage provide the
multimedia component and an animated white line echoes the rope on stage, morphing
into various road signs and symbols.
The group worked well together: Struggling, resisting,
travelling, overtaking and being left behind all represented cleverly with good
lighting design. The idea was fresh but the “well-worn” choreography was a
little disappointing. In particular the specific
hand and arm movements and repetitions have been seen so regularly in recent amateur
contemporary dance. It was a little messy and the initial sound bytes were
familiar and predictable. The dancers and audience may have benefitted from
slightly more challenging choreography.
The role of men in society, as provider, lover, father, was
examined in Matt Cornell’s piece. His choreography was right on the mark, with the
boys partnering each other in this polished performance, endearingly and
strongly danced. Cornell’s work was a highlight of the evening. One of the boys
summarised the dilemma of being at once strong but emotionally sensitive: Men
are allowed to cry, but only three times a year. At preordained movies.
Gentle humour hinted at uncertainty, insecurity and courage
to join the rat-race of life and step up to the mark. Several of the boys
showed good isolation work and the group danced staccato phrases well. Sometimes
fighting each other, often helping each other, the boys in business shirts danced
their way towards manhood.
Individuals were not featured as strongly as they have been
in other QL productions, but still, the solos didn’t always blend smoothly into
the choreography. However impressive or skilful, movement between spaces on
stage and “tricks”, works best when there is a purpose or meaning behind it, or
when it carries the momentum and story, rather than simply to highlight an individual’s
skills.
Very intriguing and a bit “different”, was the the girls’ featured
act, by Jade Dewi Tyas-Tunggal. Adam Ventoura’s soundscape was a perfect blend
of timeless, meditative music for the girls to present their take on becoming
women and to subtly explore female sexuality and the dynamics of teenage friendship.
The piece began with a Middle Eastern vibe in its movement and music, but the
costumes were more like togas. One would assume this was to give it an ageless
feel as though in some form or another, women have experienced these challenges
since time immemorial.
The backdrop of animations that subtly complimented the
performance changed to extreme close ups of girls lips, painted in bright red
lipstick, slowly parting to reveal dice. It was fascinating and mesmerising but
a few times became so distracting that it was easy to miss segments of what was
happening on stage. It literally was “in your face”.
Becoming a woman and finding and feeling confident in
individual identities was represented by the dancers donning high heels. Some
girls walked tall, while another stumbled, until, aided by her peers, she is
helped and manipulated into a “sexy” girl and off she goes to attract a mate.
This understatedly refreshing and enjoyable piece ends in a
poignant moment, when a young suitor tenderly removes the high heels of the young
girl as the next group of dancers take over on stage.
Unfortunately, more than once, the girls’ timing was significantly
out of sync with each other and so it was easy to default to specific dancers
including Kylie Murray, who was physically expressive and obviously one of the
most experienced dancers. The age range was between 14 and 25, which is few
years older than usual, but the dancers appeared reasonably uniform in age and
skill, which worked well.
On the whole, the costuming didn’t add significantly to the
show. Even within budgetary constraints, using the costumes to more extensively
add meaning or layers would help.
The cardio-taxing finale, from Ruth Osborne, featured good
group cooperation and included several lifts, which counterbalanced the simplistic
choreography. It was given life by the expressiveness and emotional conviction
of the dancers, which appeared stronger than in previous QL productions.
This was an uplifting, sweet, joy to watch, professionally
presented and danced and a great team production.
An edited version of this review will appear on the citynews
website and magazine.