EMERGING CHOREOGRAPHERS PROGRAM - QL2 Dance

 

Akira Byrne performaing "A Destination Should Not Be Expected".

 

Produced by Natalie Wade – Lighting Design by Aidan Bavington

Sound mastered by Kimmo Vennonen.

Mentored by Alice Lee Holland, Alison Plevey and Emma Batchelor

A Block Theatre, Gorman Arts Centre -14^th & 15^th December 2024.

Performance on 14^th December reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

One of the most interesting projects undertaken by QL2 is the annual Emerging Choreographers Program in which young dancers with an interest in choreography, who have participated in QL2 activities throughout the year, can test their creativity by creating a short work to be put before a paying audience at the end of the year.

To this end participants are provided with dancers, rehearsal spaces and professional mentorship to assist them bring their projects to fruition.

This year nine young emerging choreographers accepted the challenge resulting in seven performance pieces and a film, with the choreographers challenging themselves to express deeply felt complex personal issues in dance terms.

Calypso Efkarpidis performing "DreamScape".

The evening commenced promisingly with a work by Calypso Efkarpidis for which, upon entering the theatre, the audience was met by the choreographer, already in position, wearing a striking wearable art costume from which multi-coloured strings radiated entrapping her three dancers.

Entitled “DreamScape”, Efkarpidis’ work was an attempt to explore connections between dreams and waking life. As the work progressed Efkarpidis abandoned the strings to join her three dancers, Charlie Tomson, Coral Onn and Sam Tonna, to perform a series of strikingly lit sequences, which concluded with the quartet leaving the stage through an open door which shone light on the interesting patterns formed by the strings trailed by Efkarpidis as she too disappeared into the light.

Arshiya Abhishree and her dancers perform "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"

Arshiya Abhishree chose music by Oliver Coats and Elena Guro for her work “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” with which she explored out-of-body experiences.  Created on five dancers, Akira Byrne, Calypso Efkarpidis, Chloe Curtis, Jahna Lugnan and Maya Wille-Bellchambers, costumed in striking red trousers and black singlets, this work was very well danced with unison work contrasting with aggressive individual movement.

Juliet Hall and Coral Onn perform "Dominion (Pupa).

Exploring ideas of manipulation and power, Alex Potter’s creation “Dominion (Pupa) to the music of Ambient Ver and Invader 303, was made on Coral Onn and Juliet Hall, who took turns in manipulating and mirroring each other with puppet-like movements which demanded intense concentration from the dancers.

Charlie Thomson and his dancers perform "Don't Scratch"

Making a striking entrance hidden under a silver cloth, Charlie Thomson took inspiration from his own affliction by the skin condition, Eczema, to create an imaginative work intitled “Don’t Scratch” which he performed together with Chloe Curtis, Maya Wille-Bellchambers and Sam Tonna to a selection of music by Olofur Arnalds and others.

Attractive individual costumes and clever use of lighting and robotic movements resulted in a work which was continually visually interesting.  

Charlie Thomson with Chloe Curtis, Jahna Lugnam and Calypso EfKarpidis performing
Sam Tonna's "Chromed and Polished"

Thomson also joined Calypso Efkarpidis, Chloe Curtis, and Jahna Lugman to perform Sam Tonna’s work “Chromed and Polished” in which Tonna explored the relationship between technology, the body, and the soul.

 Again, attractive costume design featuring beige tops individually decorated by black plastic strips insured visual interest for a complex work performed with commitment by the four dancers required to work very closely for choreography which also employed robotic movements.

Maya Wille-Bellchambers and Christopher Wade performing "Opposing Gratification"

With her work “Opposing Gratification”, Jahna Lugnan explored the differences between Schadenfreude and Freudenschade. Her work was sensitively performed by Christopher Wade and Maya Wille-Bellchambers, who earnestly repeated similar mechanical movements either in unison or individually to the accompaniment of ticking sounds.

A film by Christopher Wade and Magnus Meagher, “Catch and Release”, featuring lovely  images of Wade together with Alyse Canton, running, tumbling and contemplating  glorious scenery on the outskirts of Melbourne, preceded the outstanding work of the evening, a work made and performed by Akira Byrne entitled “A destination Should Not be Expected”.

Akira Byrne performing "A Destination Should Not Be Expected"

Inspired by her own battle with chronic pain and endometriosis, this deeply personal work was performed by Byrne with an intensity which was as difficult to watch as it was to turn away from.

Wearing a flowing flesh-toned costume and performing in front of a screen on to which film of her performing in this costume was projected, while her superbly recorded and beautifully articulated voice-over described the excruciating treatment required for this condition, Byrne’s writhing, contorting choreography made it impossible not to feel her pain.

 It also provided a stunning example of the effectiveness of dance as a medium for illustrating ideas for which words seem inadequate.

The emerging choreographers and dancers for 2024 .

In the Q & A which followed the program, an astute member of the audience mentioned the similarity between the ideas being explored by the choreographers and the dance choices made to express them.

  Indeed it became obvious towards the end of the program that despite the sincere efforts of the choreographers to express their ideas in original and individual ways, it was often difficult to see how the movement choices illustrated the chosen theme. The though occurred during the evening that if several of the works had been strung together as one complete work they would have made an interesting abstract dance even if the inspiration for the movement remained opaque.

For many of the creators in this project their prime creative tools have been learned by their participation in QL2 projects.  Several of them dance in each other’s projects, so obviously when a choreographer hits a creative block, their dancers are likely to offer solutions they have found helpful in creating their own work, or consciously or unconsciously, utilise ideas they’ve found attractive in a colleagues work. An example in this program was the overuse of the open door as an affective light source in several of the works.

How these traps can be avoided will no doubt exercise the minds of future QL2 mentors. Meanwhile full marks for the 2024 choreographers for providing another evening of challenging and entertaining dance.

 

                            All images by Olivia Wikner - O & J Wikner Photography