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Directed by
Liz Lea – Created in collaboration with ASTRO 3D.
Ql2 Dance
Studio – Gorman Art Centre, 15 & 16 July.
Performance
on 15th July reviewed by BILL
STEPHENS.
In 2020, ACT
Artist of the Year, Liz Lea, formed the Chamaeleon Collective in response to
the perceived need for community dancers living with disability to channel
their energies and talents into a professional parts development program at the
leading edge of contemporary performance.
Although the
Collective has participated in community events since its establishment “Stars
in 3D”, presented as part of the Uncharted Territory Festival, represents the
premiere season by the company for which its core dancers, Brydie Bulley, Anna
Connelly, Neave Darmody, Rainbow Knight and Katie Senior, were joined by six
professional dancers, Karin Adriansdatter, Patricia Hayes Cavanagh, Jareen Wee,
Sarah Long, Emily Smith and Liz Lea.
Directed
with considerable flair by Liz Lea, who collaborating with ASTRO 3D and
Recovery VR in an imaginative combination of equal measures of science,
technology and pizzazz, this inaugural program incorporated world first 3D
simulations of the universe, with live performance by people of all abilities, to
create a remarkably immersive program celebrating the Universe from chromosomes
to mapping the galaxy.
Commencing
with an image of a slowly revolving cube projected on to three walls of the QL2
studio, a lone dancer, Jareen Wee, was revealed performing a succession of
graceful, intricate movements in response to the images before being joined by
other members of the company. All beautifully groomed and costumed in sparkling
black costumes suggesting stars, the dancers moved among the extraordinary
images while surtitles and voiceovers provided information about the galaxy. The
effect was both mesmerising and informative.
Among a series of memorable sequences that
followed, one stand-out involved Katie Senior and Liz Lea, performing unison
movements in front of evocative video images of Katie Senior moving through a
variety of country locations while musing on the many positives in her life.
Equally
powerful was another in which each member of the Collective, now costumed in
sparkling silver sequins, performed in front of stunning video portraits of
themselves in an illuminating demonstration of their pride in the unique beauty
with which they had been gifted by that extra chromosome.
The final
remarkable sequence involved the entire company, holding hands and weaving in
single file among projected images of the spiralling universe thus triumphantly
cementing their claim to being Canberra’s first inclusive dance company.
Image by Olivia Wikner
This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 16.07.2023.