24 October 2025. Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra
It is interesting to watch QL2 Dance as it evolves under new director Alice Lee Holland. Productions take place in different spaces now. There seem, too, to be fewer dancers than previously, although I could be imagining that. Costumes seem to be more complex and differ more from work to work, although there is less visual background design. But the structure of the Chaos Projects, a long-standing aspect of annual programming by Ql2 Dance, has remained pretty much the same with several short works by professional choreographers making up an hour-long program. The situation is moving along.
For Chaos 2025 the focus was on what to me is a concept, or at least a word (set of words), that is not all that well known—‘main character energy’. The artistic director’s editorial message (yes, there was a printed program) tells us that ‘main character energy’ is a phrase that emerged in 2020 from social media trends (which is probably why it isn’t well known to me!). It means ‘dramatic self-confidence, obtrusive self-importance.’ Mmm … I know one young dancer who was not impressed with using ‘main character energy’ as a topic and decided not to continue with performing in this year’s project.
The evening opened with a march across the stage area by the younger dancers. They were full of energy and that energy continued as the opening work unfolded.
The opening and closing scenes, and one other section called Like Water, were choreographed by Alice Lee Holland. Other sections were choreographed by Ruby Ballantyne, Jack Ziesing and Olivia Wikner. The full program consisted of seven separate sections.
The standout section for me was Jack Ziesing’s Goblin Market made for the older students. It set out to show the darkness that might be part of the personality of a human being. But what I especially admired was Ziesing’s choreographic approach. He knew how to establish a choreographic order that made the most of the available space. That allowed the emerging young artists to work within their capabilities, but with an exceptional understanding of the structure that he was aiming to set up. The dancers looked quite professional and I suspect that Ziesing had also been firm with his coaching of the dancers as well as structuring Goblin Market so well. The work was a pleasure to watch and appreciate
While it is always good to see the annual Chaos Project, especially watching young people in a dance environment, I am hoping that future projects will focus on topics that do not rely on audiences (and perhaps some of the dancers) being social media addicts. Dance is more than that.
Michelle Potter, 28 October 2025
Featured image: Cover for Main Character Energy program. QL2 Dance Chaos Project, 2025.
I was a guest of QL2 Dance at this performance.
