IN A FLASH - Australian Dance Party

Alison Plevey in 'In A Flash" 

Choreographed by Alison Plevey
Live Photography by Lorna Sim
Live Graphics by Anna Trundle
Dancers: Adam Deusien, Gabriela Green, Leeke Griffin, Alison Plevey, Alana Stenning

Presented by The National Portrait Gallery, 9, 10, 11, and 18^th, various times.

Performance on 10^th February reviewed by Bill Stephens


Building on its admirable policy of commissioning professional dance makers to create a work in response to a current major exhibition, The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a second work from Canberra choreographer, Alison Plevey and her Australian Dance Party.


Her first commission was “Weave, Hustle and Halt”, an imaginative large-scale work for the exhibition, “Dempsey’s People: British Street Portraits”, which was performed  outdoors for several performances.
 

For this second work, “In a Flash”, commissioned by the NPG for its current exhibition, “Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits”, Plevey has created a light-hearted, exhilarating and absorbing work drawing on the skills of four accomplished professional dancers in addition to herself.

Making use of the spacious National Portrait Gallery main foyer, the dancers performed, behind, and in front of, the foyer’s towering back windows, and as they performed their movements were captured by photographer Lorna Sim and transmitted to graphics artist, Anna Trundle, to be processed and projected, slighted delayed, on to a large screen set up to one side of the performing area.
 

The Australian Dance Party performing "In A Flash" 

 

The work commenced with the dancers filing out to the sunny courtyard on the outside of the foyer windows. They were glamorously costumed in party wear. To the music of the popular song, “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” ,  a nod to “Strictly Ballroom” , one of the films featured in the exhibition, they pushed themselves against the windows, smearing makeup on the glass, and squashing their bodies into grotesque shapes against it, as if trying to push through the glass.

The "Happy Feet" sequence performed in thongs during "In A Flash" 

When the music changed to another song from “Strictly Ballroom”, “Happy Feet”, the performers entered the indoor performance area, and only then did the audience notice that with their glamorous gear, they were wearing thongs on their feet (Priscilla?). After performing some cleverly choreographed funny and funky moves, they discarded the thongs, and the party gear, performing the rest of the work in body-hugging dancewear over which they added various elements of costumes as required for each sequence.

The sequences were succinct and clear, cleverly highlighting each dancer’s personality and skills through selective improvisation combined with carefully choreographed unison sections to capture the glamour, adventure, iconography and nostalgia of life on the silver screen.

Adam Deusien, Gabriela Green, Leeke Griffin, Alison Plevey, Alana Stenning in "In A Flash"

Memorable sequences included a section where the dancers spoke their individual biographies aloud while rotating in a circle, another, an apparent audition, in which Alison Plevey performed a series of complex physical manoeuvres while calmly chatting with the director, played by Adam Deusien.

Leeke Griffin during "In A Flash" 

 

A piece of white cloth was manipulated around Leeke Griffin to become a fur cape, a showgirl’s train, or a background for a Hollywood glamour shot.

As all this progressed seamlessly, the viewer was torn between watching the excellent work of the dancers, and marvelling at the photographic skill of Lorna Sim as she captured each highpoint with unerring accuracy, and the remarkable editing skills of Anna Trundle in the selecting which image  to highlight as the work progressed.

Apart from providing an entertaining and intriguing half-hour which perfectly captures the essence of the excellent exhibition, “In A Flash” provides the opportunity to experience the maturing of the choreographic skills of Alison Plevey who is emerging as one of the country’s most interesting dance makers.

                                           All photos above by Lorna Sim.
                                 This review also appears  in Australian Arts Review

  
The two photos below, by Peter Hislop, show Lorna Sims photographing the dancers in action  and transferring her photos to Anna Trundle for transmission to a television screen during the performance.