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| "Bus Stop" choreographed by Jett Chudleigh |
Project
Director and Provocateur – Ruth Osborne
Lighting
design by: Guy Harding
Presented by
QL2 Dance – QL2 Studios – Gorman Art Centre – 23rd, 24th
November 2019.
Performance
23rd November reviewed by Bill Stephens
“Hot to
Trot” is an annual program, staged by QL2 dance, which provides young budding
choreographers with the opportunity to try their hand at choreographing a short
work. Having participated in previous QL2
activities, under professional choreographers, the budding choreographers
are provided with dancers, studio time and mentors, but must come up with a
concept, organise rehearsals, costumes and lighting plot, as well as guide and
rehearse their dancers to a short work to be performed for two performances in
front of a paying audience.
The program
consisted of five staged works, and two short films, “Lens” by Hollie Knowles,
and “We’ll see how long that Lasts” by Christopher Wade – both of which demonstrated
an admirable grasp of the possibilities
now available with modern technology to produce interesting dance works on
film.
The first
staged work was entitled “Decisions” for which Danny Riley and Penny Amoore
combined talents to choreograph and perform an intense duet, which commenced
quietly, then gathered momentum as they
challenged each other in a series of nicely executed unison sections.
Amalia Socha
and Ela Parsons also chose to perform their own work, “Behind the Rack”, a
thoughtful two-person piece examining the consequences of cheap throwaway
fashion, from manufacture to point of consumption.
Sarah Long
incorporated lemons, the music of George Gershwin, and shadow play, into an
amusing duet for Alexandra Postai and Pippi Keogh entitled, “Citrus Limon”, in
which she explored the response of changing emotions, attitudes and feelings
when confronted with a new experiences.
Danny
Riley’s work, “Outside the Box”, was the most ambitious work of the evening,
involving six dancers, himself, Clare Daly, Hannah James, Jett Chudleigh, John
Judd and Sofie Nielson. Although how the movement choices represented the theme
of career choices was not always clear, the work did contain some inventive
group movement, and a particularly interesting section in which dancers
responded to puppeteer-like movements.
The most
transparent work however was Jett Chudleigh’s “Bus Stop”, performed to an
original score by her father, James Chudleigh, depicting the reactions of four
travellers stranded at a bus stop.
Stylishly
staged under the watchful eye of Ruth Osborne, each work was introduced by the
respective choreographers, sensitively lit, with quick, well-managed
transitions between works. At the end of
the program, the choreographers and dancers returned to the stage to answer
questions from an obviously engaged and interested audience.
To
communicate complex ideas through dance
is a daunting task for any choreographer, and
given the ages and experience of this year’s group, all of whom, with
one exception, were making their first work, the results, though predictably variable,
still provided a diverting evening of interesting dance works for the capacity
audience. But more important is the invaluable opportunity “Hot to Trot” provides the young
choreographers and their dancers to explore their ability to create and perform
meaningful dance.
Photo: Andrew Sikorski (Art Atelier Photography)