QL2 DANCE, CANBERRA.
QL2 Theatre, Gorman House,
Sunday 15th December.
Reviewed by Bill Stephens
For the last
six years, QL2 Dance has been bringing together current dance students from
tertiary institutions across Australasia to choreograph, collaborate and
perform in an initiative entitled “ON COURSE”.
Over a two week period, young choreographers are provided with the
opportunity and resources to choreograph a short work of no longer in length
than 10 minutes.
This year
participating choreographers came from the Queensland University of Technology
(QUT), Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Victorian College
of Arts (VCA), Deakin University and New Zealand School of Dance (NZSD). Some,
though certainly not all, had participated in previous QL2 programs. Their
dancers are current members of Quantum Leap, some of the choreographers
themselves and others attracted to Canberra by the opportunity to participate in
the “On Course” project. They also receive technical assistance to realise
their ideas, as well as mentorship by Ruth Osborne and Adelina Larsson.The
resultant works are given two performances over two nights before a paying
audience.
Given the
limited time at their disposal, a polished end performance is not the main aim
of the project. The focus is more towards the exploration of ideas, as well as providing
opportunities for the young choreographers to engage with dancers from other
institutions. Most of the works shown in “On Course 2013” however were indeed
surprisingly polished and well danced, indicating how well these young emerging
choreographers are equipped to produce interesting dance while coping with tight
deadlines.
It was
interesting to see the emergence, of so many young male choreographers and
dancers this year. Five of the seven works were choreographed by men. Not
unexpectedly most tackled weighty issues with their works, but often with an
engaging and refreshing dash of humour.
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| "Sway" choreographed by Harry Morrissey Photo: Lorna Sim |
Harry Morrissey from WAAPA utilised six male dancers
to explore concepts of identity and individuality in his work “Sway”. Created
to a spoken voice sound track, Morrissey drew on the individual skills of his
dancers to perform a series of quirky duets and solos punctuated by unison
movement to create a good-humoured, thoughtful work.
Also from
WAAPA, Dean Ryan Lincoln worked with
six dancers, two girls and four boys, and an interesting movement
vocabulary to explore issues affecting
existence in his work, “Circle of Nothing”, danced to a soundscape, some of
which he composed himself, and which
included voices intoning statements such as “Have you written a letter to your mother today ?”.
Eliza Sanders, a former Canberra dancer now with
New Zealand School of Dance, made use of striking props in her solo work,
“Queen”. Among them, a huge set of buffalo horns and a fur collar with which
she created a series of striking visual images during her athletic solo.
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| Eliza Sanders in "Queen" Photo: Lorna Sim |
Sanders also
made an amusing appearance, singing and dancing as a somewhat-confused Kate
Bush-like character, in a witty piece, choreographed and danced by VCA student,
Chad McLachlan, entitled “Base
Point”.
Mackenzie Burn, from QUT, created a lovely work on
six female dancers to explore the phenomenon of child marriage. Although “Lapse”
contained some lovely moments, without knowing the Kristyn Tremble artwork
which inspired the piece, it was difficult to know whether it achieved its
purpose, but it was, never-the-less, an engrossing and visually rewarding work.
Another
former Canberra dancer, Paul Jackson,
now at Deakin University, offered “Quartet”, a work for two girls and two boys,
danced to “By the Wall” by Tomas Dvorak, which included some quite lovely
moments in which the dancer’s movements suggested leaves gently blowing in the
wind.
“Of Primeval
Human” was the name given to the work of another WAAPA dancer, Robert Tinning. Choreographed on two
female dancers and four male dancers, this impressive abstract work was notable
for its large sweeping movements and impressive floor work, and for its
satisfying conclusion, one of the few works which didn’t just stop at the end
of the music.
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| Jack Riley in "Building Elvis" Photo: Lorna Sim |
Prior to the
seven programmed works, audiences were treated to a sneak-peek of a moody solo,
“Building Elvis” choreographed by Ruth Osborne and Jack
Riley, and
danced beautifully by Riley to Elvis Presley songs, arranged in a soundscape by
Kimmo Vennonen. This work was a commission by the National Portrait Gallery to
celebrate the current exhibition of Elvis Presley photographs.
Several of
the works made extensive use of video projections and all had the advantage of Guy
Harding’s excellent lighting design.
Following
the performance, as is usual at QL2 presentations, the audience had the
opportunity to question the assembled chorographers and dancers about their
various works. Their answers provided revealing insights into the motivation
and inspirations of the works just performed.
