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| Chimene Steele-Prior with Lucie in "Lucie in the Sky" |
Concepted,
created and choreographed by Amy Hollingsworth
Lighting Design
by Alexander Berlage – Costumes designed by Harriet Oxley.
Music
composition and sound design by Wil Hughes
Drone
choreography by Amy Hollingsworth and Verity Studio.
Drones
programmed by Verity Studio – Technical Adviser: Dr Catherine Ball
Canberra
Theatre Centre Playhouse 14th and 15th July 2023.
Performance
on 14th July reviewed by Bill Stephens.
Putting
aside the technical miracles achieved in getting this production to the stage,
it’s amazing how easily one succumbs to the fantasy that these cute little
fairy lights have personalities of their own, and react with curiosity and
playfulness to the overtures of the six superb dancers who make up the
Australasian Dance Collective.
Presented as
part of Canberra’s inaugural Uncharted Territory Festival, created to celebrate
creativity, experimentation and ground-breaking ideas, “Lucie in the Sky”
certainly ticked all the boxes of the festival’s criteria.
.JPG) |
| Dancers of Australian Dance Collective interacting with the drones in "Lucie in the Sky" |
“Lucie in
the Sky” was concepted, created and choreographed by Amy Hollingsworth with,
and for, the six dancers who make up her Australasian Dance Collective; Chase
Clegg-Robinson, Harrison Elliott, Lilly King, Taiga Kita-Leong, Jack Lister and
Chimene Steele-Prior.
Before the
performance Hollingsworth addressed the audience to inform it that each of the
five drones had been given individual names and emotionally coded to respond to
the personalities allotted to the six dancers, the Caregiver, the Artist, the
Innocent, the Seeker, the Magician and the Warrior.
She also shattered
any suggestion that the name of the show had anything to do with the Beatles
pop group, explaining that the particular microdrones used were trademarked,
Lucies. In this show the blue drone is called Lucie, hence the title.
In
performance however , even though each of the drones had its own individual
colour, it still proved difficult to keep track of who, and which, was what,
mainly due to the low lighting level of Alexander Berlage’s extraordinary
lighting design. Necessary of course to highlight the drones, but often making it
difficult to recognise the individual dancers.
All the
dancers were costumed in elegant, individually detailed, off-white costumes,
designed by Harriet Oxley. Each was given moments to shine, with and without the
drones. The whip-sharp solos and graceful group interaction, cleverly choreographed
by Hollingsworth to highlight each dancer’s individuality and strengths, were a
joy to watch.
.jpg) |
| Harrison Elliott and Skip in "Lucie in the Sky". |
Harrison
Elliott was a stand-out with his virtuosic, beautifully controlled tumbling and
playful responses to the cheeky drone, Skip the Jester.
This is not
the first time drones have been used in live performance. Celine Dion, Justin Bieber and even Cirque du
Soleil have used them in mass displays. However with “Lucie in the Sky”, Amy
Hollingsworth and her company have found a captivating way to make them appear
to interact with the performers.
Therefore
after bonding with the five captivating drones during performance it came as
something of a letdown to discover, in the post-show conversation that followed
the opening night performance, that it actually required 48 drones for each
performance.
This is because
each tiny Lucie drone only has a three-minute battery life. To then learn that
each drone is carefully mapped and tightly programmed, requiring the dancers to
adhere strictly to the complex choreography to achieve the impression that they
were interacting with the drones, felt a little like learning the truth about
Santa Claus.
However don’t
let truth deprive you of a truly unique and delightful experience when “Lucie
in the Sky” comes your way.
Images by David Kelly
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au