SPHERE

Australian Dance Party 

The Vault

Season Closed

Reviewed by Samara Purnell

Dancer Jahna Lugnan. Photo by O&J Wikner

Entering into a concrete box on a bitumen carpark to watch a production showcasing the environment, our connection to it and how we see ourselves in it was a juxtaposition in itself. Upon entering, the audience is warmly welcomed and ushered into the dark, hazy space, warmed by a fireplace. A soothing voiceover repeats that we can sit or stand wherever feels comfortable and move around as the immersive performance takes place, noticing what we are drawn to. It is ten years since the Australian Dance Party (ADP) formed and SPHERE is their anniversary dance production. 

Several scattered bench seats and rugs on the floor allowed for people to sit solo or in a group. Many did not feel the urge to move around but some of the audience keen to watch the dancers right in front of them, or to watch the video footage from different aspects did change positions a few times. The Vault allowed the opportunity to display large-scale projections on all four walls. This was just as important an element as the dancing itself and the dancers regularly watched, engaged with and mirrored the images of themselves in the settings they were portrayed in. 

Photo by Creswick

The other striking element of SPHERE was the costumes by Kelli Donovan. Her textured, elegant, beautifully detailed costumes were absolutely captivating and deserved an up-close look. From sage greens worn by a couple of the dancers in the imagery of eucalypt trees and in orange, sun-lit water, to the black, almost beetle-like costumes, to the long flowing skirts and dresses, split up the side. A splash of red and yellow flashing across the black ones called to mind the colours of cockatoo species. These costumes showcased the muscles, form and slim tone of the dancers’ arms and torsos. 

Dancers of the ADP in SPHERE. Photo by Creswick

The small group of dancers performed mostly solo or in pairs, but at one stage came together to form a group and moved as a mound, like ants or beetles, with dancer Jahna Lugnan poised on top like a lizard on a rock.  

Photo by Creswick

Co-director Sara Black and Jason Pearce danced together, with imagery of themselves stretching, climbing and working off the concrete walls under a bridge. Their duet was a stand out choreographically, with seamless partner work lifting, counter-balancing each other and rolling around each other, imitating and expanding on the footage being shown. 

Urban graffiti was the backdrop for Pat Hayes Cavanagh’s solo and the chalk circles she drew as she swept across the floor conjured up diagrams of astrology and geometry. Noting the graffiti as modern art, an expression of rebellion and urbanism could it be seen as a thing of beauty too? 

The dancers moved like museum guards - emerging quietly and moving through the scattered audience, gracefully beginning their movement, then retreating ghost-like, back into it as they finished. 

Drone imagery of the dancers on blackened earth with burnt tree trunks was stunning and called to mind the balance of controlled burns and land management, with the intensity and terror of raging bushfires, before being drawn back to the space with its enclosed fireplace, gently keeping us warm. The slow movements of the dancers in knee-deep water surrounded by eucalypt trees was beautiful. All the imagery was captured and edited magnificently by Creswick.

Sia Ahmad’s soothing composition completed the immersive experience, with all the production elements and dancers creating a beautiful, slow-paced (for the most part) meditative experience, allowing an audience to focus on an element of imagery, sound, a dancer in front of you, the costumes or to take it all in at once. 

SPHERE simultaneously presented an opportunity for the mind to wander, contemplating ancient rituals and modern ones, urban brutalism versus bushland, preservation of our country, the microcosm and the macrocosm.  

We can immerse ourselves in nature, emulate it, force ourselves upon it and wonder if we are part of nature or merely of it?

ADP director Alison Plevey always has an environmental focus in the works she creates, and they are usually site-specific. SPHERE allows viewers to bask in the beauty of our native surroundings, whilst enjoying the creativity of different forms of artistry. 

Photo by Creswick