My review of ECDysis was published online by Canberra CityNews on 26 October 2025. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Here is a link to the CityNews review.
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25 October 2025. Courtyard Studio. Canberra Theatre Centre
ECDysis celebrates Elizabeth Cameron Dalman’s decades of dance creation and performance. Dalman founded Adelaide-based Australian Dance Theatre (ADT) 60 years ago. She directed the company for 10 years before moving elsewhere. She is now based at Weereewa (Lake George) near Bungendore in New South Wales, where she established Mirramu Creative Arts Centre and Mirramu Dance Company (MDC).
The works on the ECDysis program were performed by members of Dalman’s current company along with colleagues from Taiwan. The program was diverse and comprised not only choreographed works but also film clips from across Dalman’s career including some recent discussion of her current interests. There were also words of introduction and explanation spoken before each dance work, given sometimes by Dalman herself, sometimes by Vivienne Rogis currently assistant director of MDC. Especially interesting was one section in which Dalman discussed her connections with Taiwan, whose dance culture has become an intrinsic part of her career.
The dance aspect of the program began with Welcome Dance, created in 2025 by Dalman. It was relatively simple choreographically but was a charming introduction to what followed and quite moving given that, despite having been dancing for decades, Dalman has lost little of her stage presence.
The first half of the program focused on early works made for ADT in the 1960s and 1970s. Especially engrossing were excerpts from This Train, created in 1965 and danced to songs by Peter, Paul and Mary. It demonstrated the basic elements of Dalman’s choreography, which have stayed with her but which she has developed over the years: beautifully shaped and placed arms, movement that is carried through the whole body, and the exceptional projection of an emotional response to movement. The dancer that stood out for me in demonstrating those elements was Miranda Wheen, although everyone involved in This Train gave a moving demonstration of Dalman’s early approach.
After interval the program focused largely on the years Dalman has spent at Weereewa, and the development of her connections with Taiwanese dancers. This second section included not only works created by Dalman but also some by her colleagues including Vivienne Rogis, Miranda Wheen and Peng Hsiao-yin (Grace).
A standout item on the second half was Broken Umbrella from a longer work, Tango Lament, and was made in 2008 by Miranda Wheen. Danced in large part by Wheen with what was indeed a very broken umbrella, it was created in response to the closure of a university dance program. Wheen’s choreography had moments of fast-paced movement juxtaposed with slower sections and her dancing was technically outstanding and conveyed an engrossing involvement with the topic.
In addition, the second half contained some exceptional visual elements in the 2005 work ‘Mountain Skirts’ from Bride in the Desert choreographed and performed by Wheen, Rogis and Amanda Tutalo. The costumes (designer not given) lent themselves to visions of billowing cloth.
Throughout the program it was particularly interesting to see some of the aspects of life and culture that have inspired Dalman’s work. Homage to Botticelli from 1969 was inspired by a visit to Florence and Dalman made a surprising link between the Renaissance era of Botticelli and aspects of life in the 1960s.
Silk from 2002, danced to music by Andreas Dalman, was inspired by the creation of silken fabric from its beginnings to its use as a fashion item. It had an outstanding performance from Christopher Chu (as a silkworm?). Refugee (Flight for Life—Destroyed) from 2018 was commissioned by the Taiwanese Youth Foundation and was performed by Amanda Tutalo and Fu-rong Chen. It examined difficulties, including death, faced by those fleeing certain cultures.
ECDysis closed with a new work, Family Tree, newly choreographed by the members of the ECDysis creative team to music by Sigur Ros. The evening, danced against a simple drop cloth lit in different colours for each work, was an exceptional example of creativity and cross-cultural connections.
Michelle Potter, 26 October 2025.
Featured image: A moment from Mountain Skirts. ECDysis, 2025. Photo: © Sigo Tseng
I was a guest of Elizabeth Cameron and Friends/Canberra Theatre Centre at this performance.