My review of All in was published online by CBR CityNews on 25 September 2026, following its opening performance in Canberra on 24 September. The review below is a slightly enlarged version of the CityNews post. Follow this link to the CityNews review.
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24 September 2026. The Theatre, Belconnen Arts Centrre, Canberra
All in from Dance Makers Collective, a Western Sydney-based company directed by Miranda Wheen, was first performed in Sydney in early 2025 and has since been touring to various locations, each time including dancers from various local companies. The Canberra performances over three days included dancers from the First Nations contemporary dance group Project Dust, the classical Indian group Apsaras Arts, and the youth group Quantum Leap Australia. As the name of the work suggests, All in, choreographed by Wheen, focuses on the concept of connections.
After a short introduction in which performers from all groups were briefly seen together, the work proper began with extraordinarily powerful dancing from seven dancers representing Dance Makers Collective. They twisted and turned, jumped and lent from side to side, made absorbing use of arms and hands, and interacted in a choreographic sense with each other. It was a long sequence and the dancers continued to move with intensity while also making ongoing facial contact with the audience. They smiled directly at individual people, inviting us to be involved (in an emotional sense). With the audience seated on two opposite sides of the performing space, the focus of the dancers moved from side to side so all audience members were involved.
Then followed performances by dancers from the Canberra groups, with the strongest input from the Apsaras Arts dancers who work in Bharatanatyam style. Their dancing was exceptional and also took into account the spread of audience members across the space. Their connection to the audience was made with invitingly beautiful eyes and lots of smiles, but also with the strength of their dancing and with the somewhat geometric structure of the work.
There was also a rather hilarious short section when a voice-over spoke about the nature of dance and the role it has in the life of some, including those who find the art form of dance impossible to understand. This section was accompanied by efforts from dancers to show unusual aspects of movement.
But the highlight of the ‘all in’ concept came at the end of the show when the audience was invited to join the dancing. Pretty much the entire audience, young and old, rose from their seats and joined the dancers in the performing space. The space was not huge and was extraordinarily crowded. This section was also very noisy considering the small performing space of the Belco venue. Those features concerned no one, however, except perhaps those who declined to join in the dancing. There were instructions for the people on the floor to follow, which were screened at one end of the theatre: ‘Go left’, ‘go right’, ‘make a circle’, ‘dance with the person next to you’ and so forth. And everyone followed the instructions with enthusiasm.
All in is very much a show that does indeed make connections between those involved, including the audience. But the choreography for the Canberra showing was quite different from what was seen in Sydney. And in particular, in the Sydney showing there were close connections between the dancers from the various groups, which unfortunately did not eventuate to the same extent in Canberra. I suspect this different focus reflected a lack of rehearsal time between the local groups and Wheen and her dancers. All in is nevertheless a show that is worth seeing, and in which it is fun to be involved.
Michelle Potter, 26 September 2026
Featured image: A moment from All in, Canberra 2026. Photo: © Olivia Wikner, O&J Wikner Photography
I was a guest of Canberra Theatre Centre, Belconnen Arts Centre and Dance Makers Collective for this production.
I am most grateful to O&J Wikner for the Canberra images, which were not available from other sources.
