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| Dance Makers Collective dancers in "All In" |
Produced by Carl Sciberras - Directed and Choreographed by Miranda Wheen
Composed by Fiona Hill – Designed by Anya McKee – Lighting
Design by BROCKMAN
Performed by Samuel Beazley, Jana Castillo, Mitchell
Christie, Eliza Cooper, Amy Flannery, Emma Harrison, Emma Riches, Ella
Watson-Heath, Vincent Garcia.
Canberra Dance Companies: Project Dust, Apsaras Arts
Canberra, Quantum Leap Australia.
Presented by Dance Makers Collective in association with the
Canberra Theatre Centre and Belco Arts at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Sept. 24-26,
2026
Performance on September 24 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.
Based in Western Sydney, Dance Makers Collective (DMC) is a collective-led dance organisation with a mission to transform people and communities through dance.
These Canberra performances of All In by DMC come at the end of an extensive national tour which has included Launceston in Tasmania, Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Bondi and Newcastle in NSW, Geraldton, Margaret River, Harvey and Bunbury in WA, and finally Belco Arts in the ACT
In each centre the company involves local dance
organisations, which for the ACT performances were First Nations contemporary
dance group, Project Dust, Indian classical dance troupe, Apsaras Arts Canberra,
and Canberra youth dance organisation, Quantum Leap Australia.
Directed and choreographed by Miranda Wheen, to a soundtrack
composed by Fiona Hill, with design by Anya McKee which incorporated
sophisticated lighting by Brockman, All In commenced with a short,
lightly choreographed introduction during which each group gave a brief demonstration
of their particular dance style before vacating the stage for the major work by
DMC.
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| Dance Makers Collective dancers performing "All In". |
This work commenced dramatically with seven DMC dancers, each isolated in an overhead spotlight, performing apparently spontaneous individual motifs.
As the dance progressed, the dancers began to move around the
perimeters of the performance space flirtatiously making eye contact with
members of the audience seated on both sides.
As the intensity of the dance increased it became obvious that
the opening motifs were indeed choreography as the group began repeating them in
unison, quickly shifting focus and speed, utilising the entire performance area
with broad exciting movement.
Taking up the challenge, Project Dust, Quantum Leap
Australia and Apsaras Arts dancers took the stage, each group demonstrating a different
dance technique.
Project Dust contributed an indigenous dance style handed
down over thousands of years. Quantum Leap Australia contrasted with its athletic
contemporary dance, while the splendidly costumed Apsaras Arts dancers delighted
with its fiercely intricate Bharatanatyam technique.
The object of the DMC mission became clear as all the
dancers, regardless of their technique, became swept up in the final section of
the work, joined by almost the entire audience who accepted the invitation to
join them on the performance space, inhibitions overcome by the realisation that
they could dance like no one was watching.
Prompted by instructions beamed on a huge screen at one end of the performance space, with each adding their own moves to those already demonstrated, the performance morphed into an exhilarating, joyful dance party experience and a persuasive demonstration of the transformative qualities of dance.
Photos by Nat Cartney
