THE FOLD The Training Ground, The Erindale Theatre, ACT.

Saebra Gallacher (The Rival) - Emily McCoy (Esa) in "The Fold" 

Conceived, Produced, Directed and Choreographed by Bonnie Neate and Suzy Piani.

Lighting designed by Bonnie Neate, Suzy Piani and Alex Clifford.

Costumes by Canberra Dancewear – Special Effects by Alex Clifford and Jack Costigan

Videography & 3D animation by Trent Houssenloge, Chris Curran, Cowboy Hat Films

Music Editing by Bonnie Neate, Suzy Piani and Rob Aspinall

Presented by The Training Ground, Erindale Theatre, July 25^th and 26^th 2025

Performance on 26^th July reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

Emily McCoy (Esa) - Stella Woods (The Friend) -Saebra Gallacher (The Rival) - Charlie Thomson (The Controller) - Emma Prail (The Proxy) in "The Fold"

Some of the most exciting dance presented each year in Canberra is produced by a local organisation, The Training Ground.

Founded in 2020, The Training Ground runs an intensive six-month pre-professional contemporary dance program designed specifically for exceptional contemporary dancers across the ACT and neighbouring regions.

The culmination of the program are two performances of an original work conceived, produced, directed and choreographed by the founders of the program, dance educators and choreographers, Bonnie Neate and Suzy Piani, highlighting the skills achieved by the participants.

This year the work was entitled THE FOLD. Set in a fabric factory, following post-apocalyptic climate change which has ravished the cotton fields, the work focussed on the psychological interaction between a new employee, Esa (Emily McCoy), Esa’s mysterious double, The Proxy (Emma Prail), The Rival (Saebra Gallacher), The Friend (Stella Woods) and the Controller (Charlie Thomson).

Charlie Thomson (The Controller) and the dancers of "The Fold"

Co-workers and ensemble were portrayed by Tia Neate, Scarlett Crowe, Maddison Kercher, Beatrix Dowling, Ellie McLean, Laura Hackett, Violet Rogers, Summer Haines, Jessica Wiggin and Georgia Hill.

Although the work has a storyline concerning memories, realities, time warps, rivalry and power, its presentation is abstract and surreal. Its main purpose was to provide a framework and motivations, providing the dancers with the opportunity to create and portray characters within the complex choreography.

The principal dancers performed the highly original solos, duos and trios necessary for the storyline, with the ensemble busily engaged for much of the work performing demanding mass unison choreography.

It is this feature that differentiates the work of The Training Ground from others. For its productions all the dancers wear similar leotard type costumes, with the principals differentiated by colour or small detailing. The attention is therefore concentrated on the dancing and the ability of each dancer to create a believable characterisation within the choreography.

The choreography by Neate and Piani is incredibly complex and demanding, sometimes bordering on acrobatic as dancers interweave bodies reminiscent of the early work of Graeme Murphy, or mirror each other in perfect unison.

Among many outstanding features of this work was the section in which the entire company worked with napkins. Folding and unfolding them, throwing them in the air, catching and passing them between each other, all in perfect unison, strikingly original and perfectly executed.

Emily McCoy (Esa) - Emma Prail (The Proxy ) in "The Fold". 

Duo’s executed by Emily McCoy (Esa) and Emma Prail (The Proxy) on a rectangular set piece, which concluded with McCoy being flown up into the flies; and another performed by McCoy and Charlie Thomson (The Controller) were memorable for the excellence of execution and intensity of the eye-contact between both couples.

Emily McCoy (Esa) - Charlie Thomson (The Controller) in "The Fold"

As impressive as the dancers were, the excellence of the technical support, in particular the superb video and film design, the preciseness of the lighting, and the engaging soundtrack which blended classical sections with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Memory”, meticulously remastered into spacy electronic other-worldliness, were all hallmarks of a contemporary dance experience that would thrill audiences anywhere in the world.

The dancers of The Training Ground in "The Fold"



Photos by Eliza Swiderski of Fotografi



This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au