The Lady of the Camellias. Shanghai Ballet

5 December 2024. Lyric Theatre, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane

I have had the good fortune over the years of seeing two spectacular productions with choreography by Derek Deane—Strictly Gershwin in two presentations from Queensland Ballet, one in 2016 and the second in 2023; and an English National Ballet production of Deane’s Swan Lake in 2011. Both left me staggered and wanting more. I wish I could say the same about The Lady of the Camellias danced by Shanghai Ballet and presented in a Brisbane exclusive by Queensland Ballet.

On a positive note, the design of both costumes and sets from Adam Nee was exceptional—a real visual treat. There was one scene in Act I that took place in a theatre and the curtained backcloth was just stunning and made this particular aspect of the narrative not only obvious but breathtaking. Then there were the several backcloths showing slightly abstract floral designs (camellias?), which also attracted one’s attention. In addition, the dancing was outstanding from all the Shanghai dancers. It was a thrill to watch their lyricism, especially in the beautiful use of the arms and upper body, the elevation of both men and women, and the perfection in the execution of the choreography. Unfortunately, however, even though the physicality was there, I didn’t always feel a strong emotional involvement between the dancers in what is a very emotional story.

With one or two exceptions, in particular a lovely pas de deux between the two main characters, Marguerite and Armand, while on holidays beachside, I found Deane’s choreography on this occasion somewhat unimaginative—it reminded me of the 1950s or 60s. Such a shame given that we have been used to seeing some quite outstanding contemporary ballet here recently from choreographers such as Christopher Wheeldon with Oscar for the Australian Ballet and, for Queensland Ballet, Coco Chanel, from Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. And this is not to mention recent work from Alice Topp, Loughlan Prior and others.

Wu Husheng as Armand Duval and Qi Bingxue as Marguerite Gautier in *The Lady of the Camellias*, Shanghai Ballet, 2024.

Then there is the storytelling aspect of The Lady of the Camellias. The Deane production looked at the society in which the story unfolded as well as the connections between the main characters. But there were times when it was not easy to tell who was who and what exactly the relationships between the various characters were as more and more people filled the stage. Perhaps, in order to be swept away by the Deane production, we are (or I am) too used to Frederick Ashton’s Marguerite and Armand, with the story stripped back to its basic elements, which thus more easily exposes a deep emotional content.

For me The Lady of the Camellias was something of a disappointment.

Michelle Potter, 7 December 2024

Featured image: Dancers of Shanghai Ballet in a scene from The Lady of the Camellias, 2024

New Zealand School of Dance performance season, 2024

20 November 2024. Te Whaea theatre, Wellington
Season runs until 30 November

reviewed by Jennifer Shennan

This end-of-year performance season is dedicated to the memory of New Zealand’s celebrated ballet dancer Rowena Jackson, who died earlier this year aged 99. Rowena was Director of New Zealand School of Dance (then National School of Ballet) in the 1970s when her husband Philip Chatfield was artistic director of (later the Royal) New Zealand Ballet. That partnership ensured a close rapport between School and Company, echoed later in 1980s when Anne Rowse and Harry Haythorne were respective directors. After some years it is heartening that Garry Trinder, director of the School, is again renewing that rapport with the Company’s artistic director, Ty King-Wall. Artists, teachers, students and audiences are all going to benefit from that mutual trust as it develops even closer.

This season includes three premieres, and alternates classical and contemporary works, which gives a welcome opportunity to see the strengths of the School’s two parallel programs. It opens with a piece to the Waltz from The Sleeping Beauty. The cast of 15 dancers, drawn from all three years’ classes, dance with enthusiasm and commitment.

Showpony! by Matte Roffe, an alumnus of NZSD, begins with a fancy-dress comic line-up of characters with voice-over, that then segues into energised abstract dance. “Using the ‘show pony’ metaphor, the work questions if the cost of constantly chasing approval is worth it, urging the audience to reflect on the toll this pursuit takes on authenticity and wellbeing.”

Gabriella Arnold in *Showpony!* Photo: © Stephen A’Court

(S)even, by the late Jenna Lavin, to a piano sonata by Franz Schubert, was staged by Tara Mora—and brings a fresh clean style of classical alignment especially in port de bras. [The School employs three of the best dance accompanists in town, so how wonderful it would be to have at least one work danced to live accompaniment?]

Taane Mete, a graduate from NZSD in 1980s, choreographed All Eyes Open, to commissioned music by Eden Mulholland, a highly experienced composer for dance. It proved the masterpiece of the evening in its maturity of concept, contemporary relevance, construction, staging, style, dedication and performance. I’d have thought the work could go straight into RNZB repertoire, as in every way it evokes the works from José Limon and Doris Humphrey company legacy (which used to be an intrinsic part of NZSD curriculum and repertoire.) Clearly in Taane’s case that early inspiration, since his days at the School in 1980s, has proved lifelong.

A moment from *All Eyes Open*. Photo: © Stephen A’Court

His program note, a model of clarity, reads: This work is a humanitarian response to the occupation in Gaza. The all-female cast morph and oscillate in solidarity in a confined area. The work explores each individual pathway in relation to the ensemble group moving en masse like a hypnotic force. I couldn’t have reviewed it better myself. If ever the NZSD Board can see ahead to forming a touring company, giving graduates a year of performance experience, they would have in All Eyes Open a timeless work, and a premiere ready to go.

It’s Not Me, It’s Me, by Zoë Dunwoodie to music by David Jones, is a lively work suiting the young dancers searching their identity. It is inspired by a painting by Dutch artist Jan Toorop who is known for Javanese themes throughout his works, though this dance takes a different path. It extends the dancers’ movement range in many new directions.

Aylish Marshall and dancers in *It’s Not Me, It’s Me*. Photo: © Stephen A’Court

The final work Forte, by Tim Podesta, premiered earlier this year in Wellington. It is a sophisticated classical work, albeit in flat shoes, and the cast of five dancers deliver performances of electric quality throughout. Three students are from the First Year class so it is clear they have reached the school already highly trained and skilled performers. There are four separate pieces of music, with applause from audience following each section. If it were possible perhaps to connect each section with a minimal choreographic thread, that would allow the work to build the full momentum and denoument it certainly deserves.

Hui Yo-Hin, Liezel Herrera, Lin Yi-Xuan in *Forte*. Photo: © Stephen A’Court

We assume it is the Third Year students who are graduating, and we wish them all a fruitful and rewarding lifetime in dance.

Jennifer Shennan, 22 November 2024

Featured image: Mia Mangano and Trinity Maydon in All Eyes Open. Photo: © Stephen A’Court

A Stellar Lineup, 2024. Liz Lea Dance

My review of A Stellar Lineup from Liz Lea working with a range of community companies was published online on 23 November 2024 by CBR CityNews. Read it at this link. Below is a slightly enlarged version of the review.

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22 November 2024. Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra

The dance scene in Canberra has long had a strong community focus, with representation from multicultural communities, groups of senior artists, people living with physical issues, groups focusing on a distinct form of dance, youth organisations, and many other specific groups. Everyone wants to feel what dance can offer and what dance can express.

Canberra’s Liz Lea, director of A Stellar Lineup, has so often been at the forefront of developing and presenting community dance in Canberra. The 2024 presentation of A Stellar Lineup is, in fact, the third iteration of a production that brings together groups of dancers representing the range and strength of this community focus.

The 2024 presentation focused on the Olympic Games, and not just on the relatively recent 2024 Paris events. We were told through dance, with a background of film, still photographs and spoken and printed words projected onto a backcloth, of events that have stood out, often focusing on Canberra-based stars across the history of the Games, and sometimes on Olympic funding issues.

Groups represented in the 2024 Lineup included the Indian community with several turbaned Sikh members of that community standing out; the now well-known GOLD Company of senior dancers; Fresh Funk representing breakdancing, which was included as a sport for the first time in the 2024 Paris Games; The Deaf Butterflies; ZEST Dance for Wellbeing; the Chamaeleon Collective, Lea’s relatively recent addition to Canberra’s community groups; a large gathering of very young dancers (including two babies carried in slings) from Project Dust, a First Nations’ contemporary dance group led by Emma Laverty; and various other organisations.

The dancing itself was, unsurprisingly, varied in terms of performance strength. For me the breakdancing from Fresh Funk stood out. Their section, Moment 4 Life, was fast-paced, and filled with energy and surprising moments of spectacular movement. Every single dancer gave his or her very vibrant best and, despite a few predictions, or perhaps suspicions, by colleagues before the show opened, as far as I could see there wasn’t a reference to Raygun and her controversial input in Paris. The Raygun performance was the last thing on my mind as I watched Fresh Funk performing.

Dancers from Fresh Funk in ‘Moment 4 Life’ from *A Stellar Lineup.* Photo: © Jen Brown

The GOLD dancers also showed their strength, especially in their ability to engage the audience with their physical and emotional engagement with the choreography. They are now an experienced and well trained group and are always worth watching.

Dancers from the GOLDs in ‘Game, Set, Match’ from *A Stellar Lineup.* Photo: © Jen Brown

I was also impressed by Rachel Hilton, who paid homage to her mother, Daphne Hilton, with a simple, but beautifully lyrical solo. Daphne Hilton was a Canberran and Australia’s first female Paralympian to medal. Then there was a homage to the legally blind cyclist Lindy Hou, and then to Louise Ellery a Paralympian in the track and field area. Towards the end of the show there was an engaging performance, The Silent Spirit of Deaf Sports!, from The Deaf Butterflies, which had the audience using deaf applause. And more…

An Acknowledgment of Country opened the evening and was also a highlight given that it was a choreographed acknowledgment from a stage filled with performers of various abilities. Indigenous input into the Games was also strongly acknowledged with an amusing section from Project Dust with appearances from some of the youngest performers of the evening, including those two babies carried in slings. It featured an Aboriginal flag, whose colours were matched by the red, black and yellow costumes of the performers.

Dancers from Project Dust including the babies in slings in ‘Eye of the Tiger’ from *A Stellar Lineup.* Photo: © Jen Brown

We can but admire Liz Lea’s determination to present community dance to Canberra audiences. Similarly, the strength and determination of members of the community groups that have developed over the years is also admirable, and a strong and definite addition to dance in Canberra. Dance is for everyone.

Michelle Potter, 23 November 2024

Featured image: Dancers from ZEST Dance for Wellbeing in ‘I used to Run a Marathon’ from A Stellar Lineup. Photo: © Jen Brown

Oscar. The Australian Ballet

13 November 2024 (matinee). Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House

I have to admit that I have not always been a fan of works from Christopher Wheeldon who is choreographer of Oscar, the latest production from the Australian Ballet. But Oscar, which focuses on the life of Oscar Wilde, is an exceptional work from many points of view.

In a narrative sense, Oscar has two main acts preceded by a Prologue and closing with an Epilogue. It blends Wilde’s daily life and his art, with a particular focus on two of his written works, The Nightingale and the Rose and The Picture of Dorian Gray. It begins with Wilde’s trial and imprisonment for his sexual activities with men and then goes back to his early life including his meetings with male lovers. It moves on to scenes of his thoughts and recollections during his imprisonment, and finishes with the end of his time in prison and his eventual death. Wilde lived a very full and drama-filled life and a huge range of emotions colour the story.

I was impressed with Wheeldon’s choreography, which was diverse, demanding and danced strongly throughout. Curved, smooth and lyrical movements contrasted with sharp, geometrical and quite two-dimensional moments, and the relationships between characters was made clear choreographically, no matter what was the nature of those relationships. The Act II duet between Wilde and his long-standing sexual partner Bosie was a real highlight, although there were so many moments of exceptional and quite descriptive choreography.

I did not see the opening night cast (who feature in most of the images available) and so have no images of the dancers I saw performing at the matinee of 13 November. But of the cast I saw, in addition to a strong performance by Brodie James as Oscar, Jill Ogai stood out as the Nightingale and Bryce Latham and Thomas Gannon were thoroughly engaging as the sons (Cyril and Vyvyan) of Oscar and his wife Constance. The family picnic scene early on in the work, in which Cyril and Vyvyan sat with their father as he read to them, was especially entertaining.

Some very engaging moments occurred towards the end of Act I when Oscar’s close friend, Robbie, introduced Oscar to a gay bar. In addition to showing moments of sexual attraction between those in the bar, two characters named Harri (Yichuan Wang) and Zella (Jake Mangakahia) gave a brilliant show of acting and dancing as drag queens. The second act had, however, a very different feel to it. A degraded Oscar struggled to manage his life in confinement, and the remembered pleasures of his early life took on a kind of desperation. This difference in the emotional impact of the work was clear not just choreographically, but also in the score by Joby Talbot, which was more brash in its sound during Act I.

Set and costume design was by Jean-Marc Puissant and his set in particular was quite spectacular in the way the setting, while retaining the major structure of a building, was able to change to reflect different moments and aspects of the narrative, often assisted by exceptional input from lighting designer Mark Henderson.

My one less-than-positive comment is that perhaps too many of the characters that were part of Wilde’s flamboyant life were also part of this production. There were times when it was not at all easy to understand exactly what the situation was and who the characters were. Perhaps fewer events and characters would have made the work easier to follow while still being indicative of the varied range of people and events that characterised the life of Wilde. But having said that, Oscar was engaging pretty much from beginning to end. And just amazingly danced.

Michelle Potter, 15 November 2024

Featured image: Christopher Wheeldon rehearsing dancers of the Australian Ballet for Oscar. Photo: © Christopher Rodgers-Wilson

Waru— journey of the small turtle. Bangarra Dance Theatre

My review of Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Waru— journey of the small turtle was published online on 7 November 2024 by CBR CityNews. Read it at this link. Below is a slightly enlarged version of the review.

7 November 2024. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre

Waru—journey of the small turtle is Bangarra Dance Theatre’s first work made for children, and specifically for children aged 3 to 7, although adults can certainly enjoy it too. Drawing inspiration from Torres Strait Islander culture, Waru tells the story of Migi, a turtle who, after birth on an island in the Torres Strait, navigates her way out to sea with others born at the same time, and who then returns to the island to give birth to her own baby turtle. The idea for, and the creation of the work, came from Bangarra’s former artistic director, Stephen Page, and his son, Hunter Page-Lochard who wrote the storyline. There is creative input from various Bangarra dancers and in particular from Torres Strait Islander woman, Elma Kris. Kris takes on the leading role of Aka Malu (loosely translated as grandmother) in Waru. She is the storyteller and works hard (and effectively) to engage the young audience, and to convince everyone to participate in her storytelling actions.

Elma Kris as Aka Malu. Photo: © Daniel Boud

The cast is tiny. Elma Kris is joined by one other performer who plays a range of roles throughout the production, including the two turtles (the mother and a grown-up Migi), and a lizard who likes to eat turtle eggs before they hatch. But the story mostly flows beautifully and, beyond the narrative relating to these particular turtles, there is a wider story of the cycle of life and the need to protect the planet. Set and costume design by Jacob Nash and lighting by Matt Cox add a strong visual element to the production, while the music comes from Steve Francis and the late David Page.

The one slight flaw for me was a loss of vibrancy in the middle of the work, in those moments while we were waiting for Migi to return to lay her egg on the island, the egg from which her own child-turtle will be born. At this point we are told of the need take care that we do not drop our rubbish into the ocean. Kris makes the point as she removes various items of plastic from the water surrounding the island, and from the body of a sea animal who has become entangled with discarded rubbish.

Elma Kris removing rubbish from a sea creature. Photo: © Daniel Boud

Kris stuffs the collected rubbish in a bag and puts it to one side in order to have it recycled. But after the early excitement of the birth of Migi and the aid the audience was asked to give in helping the new-born turtles make their way out to sea, these following moments seemed quite passive, despite their importance and their relationship to climate change

In what is quite a short work, there is just a small amount of dancing although it includes a beautiful traditionally-focused dance, Kasa Kab, choreographed by Peggy Misi and Stephen Page. In many respects Waru reminds me of an old-style pantomime with the children in the audience joining in the action. They become increasingly involved towards the end, when Kris the storyteller is looking for that evil lizard who has appeared onstage for a second time and is seeking to eat Migi’s newly laid egg. Of course, Kris pretends she can’t find where exactly the lizard is located and the audience shouts and shouts telling her where to look. Of course, she looks everywhere but where the shouting directs her. It takes me back to those wonderful pantomime days! There is much to enjoy in Waru, for both children and adults.

Michelle Potter 8 November 2024

Featured image: Elma Kris as the Storyteller with Migi the turtle in Waru. Photo: © Daniel Boud

Elemental. The Chaos Project 2024, QL2 Dance

My review of the latest Chaos Project from QL2 Dance was published online on 19 October by CBR CityNews. Read it at this link. Below is a slightly enlarged version of the review.

The Chaos Project from QL2 Dance has become an annual event on Canberra’s youth and community dance scene: an event that gives young, aspiring dancers an opportunity to experience dance in a theatrical environment and to celebrate dancing on stage with colleagues.

Elemental, the 2024 project, was, however, a little different from previous productions. It was the first Chaos Project directed by Alice Lee Holland, who just recently has taken over the reins of QL2 Dance from Ruth Osborne. Elemental consisted of five separate works. They explored the elements of fire, space, air, earth and water, with each created by a different choreographer, or choreographers in the case of the final work.

The standout work by far was Earth choreographed by Alice Lee Holland. Although, as is the case with all five sections, the cast (of ten dancers in the case of Earth) was acknowledged as contributing to the choreography, it was Holland’s compositional input that really made the work the standout. Her extensive and varied use of the performing space, and the way she used groupings of dancers and had them interact with each other, meant that the work was always interesting to watch. In addition, her clear and dedicated development of the choreography gave the dancers a strong structure in which to work. Every one of them used their emerging performance skills with admirable courage and power.

The other four works, Fire from Jahna Lugnan, Space from Max Burgess, Air from Jason Pearce, and Water from Lugnan, Burgess and Pearce working together, did not to my mind have the same choreographic strength. All seemed to focus on movement of the arms and hands to the detriment of use of the whole body, and in some cases groupings of dancers seemed somewhat muddled. This was especially noticeable in the final work, Water, which had the largest cast and seemed not to have a strongly focused structure (as a result of having three choreographers working together perhaps?).

Pearce’s Air was something of an exception given that his aim was to explore the role of air on the body and how that aspect of the element can be expressed as a cohesive whole. Arm movements thus, rightly, played a major role, as did the gathering of the dancers in a single group for much of the work. Costumes for Air were quite exceptional. All the performers wore white to reflect an Arctic landscape and, while the colour was unvaried, the actual designs were all different and quite beautiful to look at. Their strength and beauty was, however, best seen without the blue-ish lighting that occasionally flooded over them.

Dancers from QL2 in a moment from *Air*. Photo: Olivia Wikner, O&J Photography

Lighting for Elemental was designed by the individual choreographers. Costume coordination was by Natalie Wade, although it is not clear who actually designed the costumes.

The major difference from previous Chaos Projects was the ending. Gone was a fully choreographed finale as we have become used to seeing—one of Ruth Osborne’s signature additions over the years of her directorship. The production finished, as most dance performances do, with the cast simply taking a curtain call. But, being used to a choreographed finale, I guess a simple curtain call was more of a shock than anything.

It will be interesting to see how the Chaos Project develops in future years under the direction of Alice Lee Holland. Personally, I hope the future may bring stronger choreographic input across the entire production.

On a closing note, I loved the image on the back of the printed program, which I think was created by Millie Eaton. She is acknowledged in the program’s list of the ‘creative & production team’ as doing ‘Program illustrations’. She also appeared in Fire, the work for the youngest members (aged about 8) of Elemental. The image indicated a complete involvement in the production, which is a feature, or certainly the aim, of every Chaos Project.

Michelle Potter, 20 October 2024

Featured image: Dancers from QL2 in a moment from Earth. Photo: Olivia Wikner, O&J Photography

Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon. Queensland Ballet

4 October 2024. Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane

My review of the Queensland Ballet presentation of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon was published in Limelight on 6 October. Read the Limelight review at this link. Below is a slightly enlarged version of that review.

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Coco Chanel: the Life of a Fashion Icon, from Belgian-Columbian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, was originally sought for Queensland Ballet by the company’s former artistic director, Li Cunxin. He began working to add it to the repertoire, he told me, some five or six years ago. It finally premiered in Brisbane as a joint production with Hong Kong Ballet and Atlanta Ballet.

As Queensland Ballet’s program notes tell us, Coco Chanel was a ‘creative, controversial and wildly ambitious’ woman. In addition to her initiatives with clothing design and the creation of a range of perfumes, she had a number of lovers and she interacted with many of the world’s best-known artists across theatrical genres, including many who worked with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. And her connection with the Nazi movement during World War II has been hotly debated. How then to create a ballet about her life, filled as it was with so many complex activities?

We first see Chanel (Neneka Yoshida) as a poverty-stricken nineteen-year-old seamstress working in a factory on clothes to be worn by the rich and famous. Already we have a view of the juxtaposition of poverty and wealth that characterised her early life. We also meet Shadow-Chanel (Kaho Kato), an encouraging figure, who is often quietly present onstage and who guides Chanel through her work and into the future.

From there we move on to a series of episodes reflecting aspects of Chanel’s life including her early work with her sister Julia (Alisa Pukkinen) as a singer and dancer in a Parisian bistro; and various aspects of her design career, including holiday activities in the French seaside resort of Deauville that inspired the addition to her designs of striped and other sailor-style items.

Neneka Yoshida as Coco Chanel enjoying activities at Deauville. Queensland Ballet, 2024. Photo: © David Kelly

Other episodes look at the demands she insisted upon from those who worked for her; her logo consisting of an entwined version of the letter C; her various lovers, including Arthur Edward ‘Boy’ Capel (Patricio Revé), who is killed in a car accident; the choice of Chanel No. 5 as her signature perfume; and her activities during the war years.

Neneka Yoshida as Coco Chanel grieving over the death of ‘Boy’ Capel. Queensland Ballet, 2024. Photo: © David Kelly

In the final episodes we see her work being rejected, but also the comeback that she eventually achieves.

Theatrically, Lopez Ochoa handles the episodic nature of the story with absolute skill. There is never any doubt about what is happening despite the shortness but complexity of each episode. Choreographically her use of the space of the stage is carefully considered as are the groupings she makes between dancers as the episodes unfold. I especially enjoyed the episode in which Chanel chooses her signature perfume from five possibilities. It was a smart presentation preceded by a beautifully choreographed group dance of flower people (scents of perfume).

But the Nazi episode was also a highlight with Chanel’s lover at the time, a Gestapo spy named Hans Günther von Dincklage, dramatically danced by Vito Bernasconi. Also of particular interest was the episode in which Chanel engaged with Igor Stravinsky (Joshua Ostermann). Stravinsky benefitted from Chanel’s philanthropic generosity in relationship to his score for the Ballets Russes production of The Rite of Spring but, in a moving moment in the episode, Stravinsky left the relationship in favour of his wife and family.

Neneka Yoshida as Coco Chanel and Joshua Ostermann as Igor Stravinsky. Queensland Ballet, 2024. Photo: © David Kelly

But every dancer rose to the occasion in every episode and performed with exceptional skill and commitment.

Set and costumes were created by Jérôme Kaplan and he pursued a minimalist approach, reflecting the unadorned nature of Chanel’s clothing designs. No frills, no fussy additions. An ongoing aspect of his design was the circular staircase that was moved on and off stage as the moment demanded and that looked back to a mirrored, circular staircase that was part the ground level of Chanel’s studio in Paris.

The circular staircase with Georgie Swan and Edison Manuel as the Chanel logo and Kaho Kato as Shadow-Chanel. Photo: © David Kelly

Jon Buswell’s atmospheric lighting added to the overall effect, and the new and often surprising score by Peter Salem was played by Camerata: Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra conducted by Nigel Gaynor.

When I received my ticket to Coco Chanel my heart sank. My seat was in the Gallery rather than the Stalls. I suspected that I’d never be able to see the production well enough to review it. But I couldn’t have asked for anything better. The seat in the Gallery gave me a perfect view of Lopez Ochoa’s choreographic vision, in particular the way in which she patterns bodies in the performing space, and the manner in which the show was brought together as a collaborative endeavour. Coco Chanel is an absolutely brilliant production made by a choreographer with an approach that is distinctively individualistic, and from which shines an understanding of, and belief in ballet as a medium to be pursued. It deserves to be seen across Australia.

Michelle Potter. 7 October 2024

Featured image: Neneka Yoshida as Coco Chanel with Kaho Kato (at back) as Shadow-Chanel. Photo: © David Kelly

L’histoire de Manon. La Scala Ballet on film

22 September 2024. Palace Electric Cinema, Canberra

Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, which premiered in 1974, has never been my favourite ballet. It has always seemed to be too long and to have a surplus of main characters that have often been hard to distinguish from each other. But I nevertheless went to see the film called L’Histoire de Manon as danced by La Scala Ballet in Milan to music by Jules Massenet. I was intrigued initially by the title and when reading about the ballet before seeing the film I discovered the following on the MacMillan website.

When the Paris Opera Ballet took Manon into its repertoire in 1991, a legal wrangle resulted in MacMillan’s ballet being re-titled L’Histoire de Manon. The heir to Massenet’s estate had objected to possible confusion between the opera and the ballet. Henceforth, the ballet has been known in Europe (with the exception of the United Kingdom) as L’Histoire de Manon and in the rest of the world simply as Manon.

To put it mildly, the film shows the ballet as a tour de force, completely understandable in all its facets and danced with remarkable technique from every performer. Standouts were Nicoletta Manni as Manon and Reece Clarke as the young student, Des Grieux, who falls in love with Manon and follows her to Louisiana, to where, as one of several prostitutes, she has been deported. Technically their performance of MacMillan’s choreography, especially the several pas de deux for them, with their flowing lifts, turns, slides and all manner of movements, was just spectacular. And as for their acting, the relationship between them was clearly evident. The audience could not have asked for more.

The same might be said for Nicola del Freo as Lescaut, Manon’s brother, and Gabrielle Corrado as Monsieur G. M., with whom Lescaut interacts to develop the connection with this rich old man who showers Manon with expensive items of clothing and jewellery. They are seen in the image below.

Even the ending in the swamp in Louisiana was so beautifully performed that its length seemed not to matter any more.

I admired Nicholas Georgiadis’ sets and costumes, as I have previously when seeing them used by London’s Royal Ballet in their production of Manon. They set up so well the difference between the rich and the poor in the story. (Manon will feature in the Australian Ballet’s 2025 season, when it will be performed with sets and costumes by Peter Farmer.)

More than anything, when looking back at my reactions while watching this film, I am very surprised by my emotional involvement in the production. I felt totally involved! It doesn’t happen all that often.

I have seen the La Scala company twice before, once in Brisbane in 2018 when they performed the Nureyev production of Don Quixote and once in Milan in 2019 when I saw their rendition of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works. On both those occasions I was blown away by the performances and after Don Quixote wrote ‘This was a spectacularly good production from an outstanding company of artists.’ The film L’histoire de Manon simply confirmed my opinion that this company is just amazing.

Michelle Potter, 24 September 2024

Featured image: Nicoletta Manni as Manon

The photos used in this post come from publicity material for the film.

Twofold. Sydney Dance Company

Below is an enlarged version of my review of Twofold published online by Canberra’s CityNews on 19 September 2024. The CityNews review is at this link.

18 September 2024. Roslyn Packer Theatre, Sydney

Sydney Dance Company’s Twofold began by giving the audience a second look at Rafael Bonachela’s work, Impermanence. Bonachela, artistic director of Sydney Dance Company for more than 15 years, created this work, in conjunction with American composer Bryce Dessner, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was first seen onstage in 2021 when I masked up and braved the situation and went to see it. My review of that occasion is at this link.

Then followed the thrill of a brand-new work, Love Lock, from Melanie Lane who works across the world as an independent choreographer. Love Lock is Lane’s second major work for Sydney Dance Company, following on from the much-admired WOOF, which premiered in its mainstage iteration in 2019. See this link for my review of that work.

Lane spent her early life in Canberra and received her dance training at the National Capital Ballet School under the direction of Janet Karin. She has maintained her Canberra connections and has worked closely in recent years with QL2 Dance, Canberra’s youth dance organisation, and has also created works in Canberra in a number of independent situations.

The titles of the two works in Twofold, Impermanence and Love Lock, both raise interesting questions in the mind of those watching, but neither really explains unquestionably the nature of the works as we see them. But then it has always been Bonachela’s belief that it is the members of the audience, not the choreographer, who decide on the meaning of any dance work.

Impermanence was extremely engaging and was performed to Dessner’s score played live onstage by the Australian String Quartet. Its choreography showed Bonachela at his most intense and relentless giving rise to the dancers being able to display their outstanding ability to bend and twist the body into remarkable positions while maintaining a lyricism and a strong connection with others onstage. They worked with each other in duets, trios, quartets and often as a whole group in unison. But I was surprised by the number of times five dancers formed a group, which made me think back to Bonachela’s Cinco, a work that referred to the five decades of dance from Sydney Dance Company.

The work was lit by Damien Cooper and often the dancers and musicians were shadowy. At other times they were dark figures in brighter surroundings. Always the lighting influenced how we perceived the dancing, which came to an end with a striking solo danced to a song from singer and songwriter Anohni.

Scene from *Impermanence*. Sydney Dance Company, 2021. Photo: © Pedro Greig

As for Love Lock, given Lane’s Canberra connections it was more than tempting to think back to the strange role love locks have had in Canberra. In 2015 a growing collection of love locks, that is padlocks that represent everlasting love that are sometimes attached to a bridge before having their keys thrown into the water never to be retrieved, were forcibly removed by the National Capital Authority from the bridge leading to Queen Elizabeth II Island on which is housed Canberra’s carillon.

But Love Lock was a reflection on folk or community dancing, which Lane said she sees as celebrating what it means ‘to connect with each other through our bodies and essentially what it means to be human.’ In the early moments of the work the choreography was characterised by lines of dancers, dressed in shiny black, largely unadorned outfits, filling the performance space and working in a somewhat geometric fashion. Slowly, however, this structured format gave way to movement that was more eccentric, thus losing to a certain extent its folkloric appearance. As the work progressed dancers began appearing in remarkable and individualistic costumes from designer Akira Isogawa. The costumes were of various colours, often made with softly draped material, and often quite sharply and unexpectedly protruding beyond the line of the body.

Sydney Dance Company in a moment from *Love Lock*, 2024. Photo: © Pedro Greig

Love Lock was also lit by Damien Cooper and was performed to a driving score commissioned from [Chris] Clark. The movement continued to appear intense and individualistic with changing physical connections between dancers until the closing moments when a calm descended over the group.

Love Lock is a work for this century. It is brash at times but always demanding of our thoughts about humanity and how connections may change over time. A triumph for its choreographer and her collaborators.

Michelle Potter, 20 September 2024

Featured image: (l-r) Dean Elliott, Emily Seymour, Sophie Jones and Mia Thompson in Melanie Lane’s Love Lock. Sydney Dance Company, 2024. Photo: © Pedro Greig

Jurrungu Ngan-Ga [Straight Talk]. Marrugeku

23 August 2024. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre

Below is a slightly enlarged version of my review of Jurrungu Ngan-Ga [Straight Talk] published online by Canberra’s CityNews on 24 August 2024. The CityNews review is at this link.

I have always thought of Marrugeku as a dance company with a strong focus on Indigenous issues. But Jurrungu Ngan-Ga, staged recently in Canberra by Marrugeku, showed just how much more the company offers audiences. In the case of this production, multi-disciplinary is a much stronger descriptive term for this company. In Jurrungu Ngan-Ga dance was a definite, probably dominant, component and the dancers were all exceptional performers. But the dance input was solidly supported by voice (both spoken and sung), video projection, and installation. It also had a cast of diverse cultural origins, including those with an Indigenous heritage as well as migrants to Australia, especially those who had been interred in immigration camps, notably on Manus Island in Papua New Guines.

The work was largely a series of distinct scenes. It opened with a solo that gave us a look at the kind of choreography we might expect throughout the evening—dance that was twisted, complex, occasionally grounded but moving constantly across the stage space, and subtly displaying the effects of invisible forces on the body. From there Jurrungu Ngan-Ga moved from scene to scene, some more confronting than others including some prison scenes, some overtly sexual moments, and one scene that involved dancing that seemed to suggest determined resilience in the face of unimaginable personal difficulties.

A dancing moment from *Jurrungu Ngan-Ga* from a 2022 production by Marrugeku with Bhenji Ra centre front. Photo: © Prudence Upton

Choreographically Jurrungu Ngan-Ga was diverse in its references. There were moments when moves were distinctively balletic, some that seemed clearly Indigenous, others that had a strongly Asian feel, and some that recalled hip-hop. There were even some moments when I couldn’t help thinking of Raygun and her much-discussed Olympic break-dancing performance.

Unfortunately, as is a common practice these days, the online program gave us little that helped identify performers we may not have known from elsewhere—no portrait-style images. But the male dancer who, to me, gave the strongest performance was former Canberra-based artist Luke Currie-Richardson. Tall, powerfully built, shaved head and sporting a black beard, he was at times terrifying as he manipulated a boomerang as if it were a gun, while all the time soaring through the air and always completely committed to his role. *

Bhenji Ra also gave an outstanding performance as a woman who needed to, and did talk about her ideas and opinions on life. She did it mostly from a table top, which she demanded to be set up for her. Her strength as an actor shone through.

Costumes by Andrew Treloar were an interesting mix of styles from underwear to stylish evening attire. They were also shared among the dancers and often split into several pieces with parts worn by various dancers. As for the projections, from the program it was not immediately clear who was responsible for this aspect of the show but it was more of a mirror of what was happening onstage than anything else.

Prison scene from *Jurrungu Ngan-Ga* from a 2022 production by Marrugeku. Photo: © Prudence Upton

Marrugeku is led by Dalisa Pigram and Rachael Swain and is located between Broome, Western Australia and Sydney New South Wales. Its patron is former senator, Patrick Dodson, who has been strongly involved with the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. His input into the political aspects of Jurrungu Ngan-Ga was clearly present.

With such a background Jurrungu Ngan-Ga was not an easy show to watch. It was provocative and it constantly put confronting issues before us. It ended as it had begun with a solo, which this time was angst-ridden and full of a feeling of sorrow. The work pulled no punches but certainly gave us a profound examination of shameful issues, largely those emerging from incarceration and the detention of refugees, which have affected the people at the heart of the work. Straight Talk indeed.

Michelle Potter, 26 August 2024

* For more about Luke Currie-Richardson see this link to an article published in The Canberra Times in 2016 (from the days when that newspaper actually published material about the arts).