Left - Figment. Cover - Sup-port. Photos - Susannah HartIt seems I wasn't the only one to consider that, pound-for-pound, the performance and technical standards of Short Sweet + Dance, a legitimate offspring of the global Short + Sweet behemoth, are higher than its dramatic parent.
The other thing to say about the younger sprite is that its participants are almost universally youthful. Yet, even in veritable pubescence, they are of an extraordinary standard, which augurs well for Australian dance, circa 2020. Indeed, it should be a spendiferous vision (if you'll pardon the pun)!
That said, week 2 of what is, essentially (but nothing's ever especially straightforward where S + S is concerned), a 3-week season, presents a diversity of work: some dazzling, some perplexing, some amusing, some beautiful, some sophisticated, some a little tedious.
The first 10-minute piece was entitled Dirty Laundry. Conceptually, it was striking. An inverted Hill's Hoist hovered, centre-stage, the only prop, on which bantam-weight choreographer, Allie Gunton, and dance partner, Jason Liu-Brennan, performed athletically and acrobatically. Unfortunately, however, the ingenious prop didn't really behave in a suitably stable, mechanical fashion, which made for awkwardness and clunkiness. A real shame, as even the pre-show warmup, which saw the hoist behaving in a more conventional way, was engaging, with the dancers limbering, while removing clothes from the lines. Aside from the pun in the title, I'm not sure what the narrative intent was. There was rough play, rejection, sadness, frustration, violence. In fact, interestingly, some of these themes were picked-up in several pieces throughout the evening. What's going on out there? Both performers, I think, are capable of better things. Gunton's choreography, while adventurous, needs a lot of refinement, restraint and more invention. I found the movements repetitive and the piece lacking the kind of arc, narrative, or otherwise, which would keep it truly exciting. I did like their well-matched choices of music, muchly. And the segues between. That aspect, featuring the honeyed tones of Me'Shell Ndegeocello's 'Beautiful', for example, was meltingly fine.
Katelyn Boshell's The Shadow Of Demise, suffered from something of the same 'set malfunction', inasmuch as a screen, hovering above the floor, on which narration unfolded, took one's eyes off the dance. Having said that, it had a deliciously dark, malevolent feeling, abetted by Charlie Clouser's Saw III soundtrack. Boshell cast herself as author, and dance partner Eden Petrovski as victim. Toying and tanatalising with various deathly scenarios, Petrovski ultimately meets her maker, at the hands of her own soul-stealing shadow. Imaginative in the way of schlock horror, Boshell's depraved mind shows great promise. Let's hope she uses it for good, instead of evil.
Arriving's arrival was welcome, as it lifted the standard from highschool hall to professional recital, in a solo piece choreographed by Angela Hill and danced, sublimely, by Jayne McCann, to a track by Matmos. Literal programmatic synopsis aside, what I liked here was the sketchier, more impressionistic approach, which allowed more intellectual and emotional freedom for both creatives and audience. They get that less is more. Streamlined and beautiful. It could've been Sydney Dance Company, Meryl Tankard, or Bangarra; and would've done any of those proud.
Jenny Sutton's Wait brought wit, lightness, humour, entertainment and expertise, with dancers Laura Fishwick, Anthea Doropoulos, Verity Jacobsen, Imogen Cranna, Angela Hamilton-Hill, Anna Healey and Abbey Kim. Deviously clever, with brilliant coordination of the ensemble and props, splendid costumes and an appropriate soundtrack, it brings to mind Hollywood dance musicals or the best of Broadway. Unpretentious, unadulterated fun, delivered almost flawlessly and with comic flair, too. Who can't relate to the wall-climbingly commonplace experience of waiting, waiting, waiting? Sutton, for Dirty Feet, has turned taking a number into a number. it mightn't be Singing In The Rain, but it's, well, Waiting In A Chair.
The first half's closer was Figment, by Jodie McNeilly, with an original sound composition by Naomi Radom. Mention must be made, too, of Michael Lewarne's fantastical chair design. Again, this piece had no fixed conceptual or narrative address, but was compelling and colourful, delving very evocatively into an Alice or Dorothy-world. McNeilly puts it particularly well: 'an excursion into the variegated world of imagination; memory, wish, desire & fantasy; inscribing evocative spaces with playful and unsettling images'. Exactly. What she said. Better yet, she's not, apparently, above sending herself up. 'Choreographically, I'm interested in the intricate delicacy of a tangible dialogue, within a triangulated self, as a moving portrait'. If you like your movement taut, but Grimm, you'll like figment, in which 'tension reigns between the diabolical and mischievous, meditative & sensual; dance theatre meet performance art, in a Lynchian, operatic wonderland'. I definitely couldn't have said it better, myself! McNeilly's competent co-conspirators? Anna Nilsson, David Lloyd, Lian Loke, Catriona Davies & Felicity Wheeler.
Apres-interval delivered, I think the stronger set, kicking-off with Sup-port, by Sean Marcs, automatically entered into the latest (second only) SS+D, by dint of his triumph in Fast+Fresh Dance, 5-minute pieces, with attitude, the still younger sibling of SS+D, staged at Riverside, Parramatta. This means Marcs is, or recently was, under 21! The exclamation because this piece, while also featuring a couple of practically superfluous and misbehaving props, exhibited solidity and calibre not normally encountered in the work of much older choreographers, or dancers. Quite extraordinary. Watch this space, if also populated by Mathew Unger, Sonia Molloy & Jess Butler. Wow! Robust; self-assured; visceral; and very, very adult.
Blonde Ambition, by Ash Bee, was totally realised. A wry commentary on idealised female beauty and the price paid to achieve it, it was, as the programme says, 'sometimes humourous, sometimes horrifying' and, sometimes, both at once. To the tune of Stothart & Ruby's 'I Wanna be Loved By You', as immortalised by Norma Jean Baker, Bee, Emma May Gibson & Samantha Parkinson, moved, doll-like, robotically & skillfully (not to mention with some discomfort and difficulty, probably, cladd in their body-control underwear), through a cohesive sequence with clear thematic communication. More humanoid than human, with high heels, falsies (eyelashes and silicone breast augmentations; or were they chicken fillets?) and other makeup, they made a powerful point and, in overall terms, certainly vied for my pick o' the bunch.
Lorena Otes & Damien Grima gave us an edgy dream sequence: Battlefield. Who hasn't wanted to smother their partner, with a pillow, in the middle of the night? Well, not me, but Otes & Grima go together like chocolate & caramel in an exploration of unexpurgated subconscious desire. This piece boasts intensity & a very physical elegance. Quite seamless, right down to the music from Zorn & Morricone.
You, Me & The Space Between Us, by Kat Sagar-Kleine, made a very promising, silent start, with Kleine, Addy Eastley, Alena Hicks, Ash Syne and Raena Hartley paired-up, as friends, or couples, trying to make contact. Fade to black and segue into the gritty, heart-rending sound of Laura Marling's Old Stone. The couples come closer, but, frustratingly, there's no real denouement. This might well be intentional, in deference to mystery, our imaginations, a notion of post-modernism, or European avant-garde, but I'm not sure it works. It looks like a chapter from a larger work.
The Cheerleader couldn't be, by contrast, more down-to-earth, almost burlesque in its naughtiness. I'm not sure its message of slavish, mindless subservience was entirely conveyed, but a good time was had by all, including, I think, dancer Tamarah Tossey, who choreographed, with direction from Gary Joplin. Brave, brazen, cheeky (in more ways than one); Toni Basel's 'Hey, Mickey!' signalled the irony. Van Halen and Georgette Baker were in there, too. Fun, fun, fun and a terrific teaser for week 3, which promises, among other surprises, exotic pole-dancers, hailing from the urban landscape of The Cross. Parental guidance advised!
SHORT SWEET+DANCE 2009
SS+D week 1: 24-28 February
SS+D week 2: 3-7 March
SS+D week 3: 10-14 March
SS+D Wildcard week 1: Sat 28 Feb 2pm $25/$22
SS+D Wildcard week 2: Sat 7 March 2pm $25/$22
Venue: Seymour Centre Downstairs Theatre | Corner of City Rd and Cleveland St Chippendale
Times: Tues-Sat 8pm, Sat 4pm
Tickets: $28/$23 concession
Bookings: Seymour Centre Box Office 02 9351 7940 | www.seymourcentre.com.au
Visit: www.shortandsweet.org
