Leap into Chaos. QL2 Dance
…deas, the value of the Chaos Project has always been the development of an understanding of stagecraft. The young dancers always do themselves proud in this respect. ******************************** The second half of the program was an outstanding work, Sympathetic Monsters, choreographed by QL2 alumnus Jack Ziesing to a soundscape by Adam Ventoura. Ziesing is currently working freelance as a dancer and choreographer and, in creating Sympathetic…
Hannah O’Neill, Étoile. 2023
…ood fortune to interview O’Neill in Paris 2012 for the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) as part of the Heath Ledger Project (sadly the project lasted only a couple of years). The interview appears on the catalogue of the NFSA—brief details at this link. Below are two images I took of O’Neill after the interview had been completed, one at the Pont neuf, the other in the foyer of the hotel where the interview was conducted. Hannah O’Neill in P…
British Liaisons. The Australian Ballet
…pression with a beautifully controlled performance in the pas de deux that comprises the second movement. She was partnered by Andrew Killian who almost stole the limelight from her with his deliciously unexpected changes of expression and mood. Company pianist Stuart Macklin deserves accolades too for his solo piano performances, first in Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel to which the pas de deux in After the Rain is performed, and then as soloist i…
Inwonderland. James Batchelor
…ar manner in creating his vocabulary but it looks like he needs a firmer foundation from which to build and develop his movement ideas. I would have liked to know more too about the sound track and the scenic and costume design. The hand-out missed giving these credits. Inwonderland is, however, a wonderful example of how dance, film, and scenic and costume design can work together, and its presentation as an installation is beautifully thought th…
Alice Topp’s Paragon. The Australian Ballet
…d fascinating was ‘Vogue’, which made reference to the Australian Ballet’s commissioning of designers. In the background we saw projected images of various designs on paper for past Australian Ballet productions, while onstage every dancer wore something contemporary and quite ‘vogue-ish’, often a jacket worn over a sparse costume, mostly of bikini-like proportions. Costumes for Paragon were by Aleisa Jelbart, with set and lighting by Jon Buswell….
Co_Lab: 24. Australian Dance Party
…itting it was difficult to follow what exactly was happening and how the sound was being created. The absolute highlight for me was the finale when Voorhoeve stood up and moved into the centre of the tarkett space carrying his cello (his ‘regular’ one rather than the electric version that he had been playing for most of the performance). There he and Plevey performed a duet that was quite absorbing in the clear and strong interaction that existed…
Forest Song and Don Quixote. Grand Kyiv Ballet of Ukraine
…ets and, while I had no advance problems of having an engagement with a condensed version of Don Quixote, having seen that ballet multiple times around Australia and elsewhere, I wondered how I would manage with Forest Song, promoted as a Ukrainian classic making its Australian premiere. Well, I had no need to worry. Both works were accompanied by spoken interludes that filled out the storyline—an essential accompaniment to Forest Song, at least f…
Eileen (2017). A film by Sue Healey
…caption from Healey: Eileen is a portrait of a dancer. Eileen joined the Bodenwieser Ballet—Australia’s first modern dance company—in 1939 and then spent many years living in India, Europe and America before returning to Sydney in 2014. She was living at Thurles Castle, ‘a home for the potentially homeless’, in Chippendale, Sydney, when I first met her, and we have collaborated on many projects since then. At 103 years of age, Eileen Kramer contin…
Meryl Tankard: an original voice. Part four—Canberra
…words. Again the Library decided not to proceed, with the final decision being made on the grounds that the publication would not attract enough public interest for sales to cover costs. Eventually, in 2011, I found a publisher who thought publication was a viable proposition, but other circumstances relating to copyright and permissions meant that once again publication did not proceed. However, a huge amount of research went into the manuscript…
Meryl Tankard: an original voice. Part three—Return to Australia
…words. Again the Library decided not to proceed, with the final decision being made on the grounds that the publication would not attract enough public interest for sales to cover costs. Eventually, in 2011, I found a publisher who thought publication was a viable proposition, but other circumstances relating to copyright and permissions meant that once again publication did not proceed. However, a huge amount of research went into the manuscript…