MOUNTAIN. Melanie Lane and Colleagues

17 October 2026. The Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre

Melanie Lane’s MOUNTAIN is, once again, a magnificent example of the work of an exceptional choreographer. Lane has a huge ability to create a complete work of art in which the audience can become fully immersed.

Made on five dancers, in this case Sara Black, Max Burgess, Tyrel Dulvarie, Madeleine Bowman and Yolanda Lowatta, MOUNTAIN was inspired, metaphorically, by the Brindabella range of mountains that is on the outskirts of Canberra where Lane grew up. The work examines the struggle to move up in life along with issues that arise as that movement proceeds. Choreographically there were examples of groupings that often recalled small, mountain-like structures, interspersed with solos and duets that recalled a variety of human activities and responses (triumphant and the opposite) to the climb .

From the early stages of *MOUNTAIN*. Photo: © Jackson Loria

Sara Black stood out for me for the beautiful fluidity of her movements in whatever mood was being suggested by the choreography. Bur every dancer was an absolute joy to watch, again whatever mood was being suggested.

Costumes were from Akira Isogawa and were quite varied across the 60 minutes that made up the performance. Initially the costumes were quite complex and made of different materials from blue denim to softer, more transparent fabric. The blue colour recalled, at least for Canberra viewers, the colour that is often a characteristic of the Brindabellas when seen from a distance. But as the work progressed the blue outfit was slowly removed to reveal a decorative, but close-fitting ‘all-over’ item.

By the time the work was nearing it’s final section the costumes had changed to translucent tops over skin coloured, close fitting leotard-like items that were somewhat revealing.

Adding to the quality of the dancing and the costuming was the music that varied between a recorded electronic sound from English artist CLARK, with whom Lane frequently works, to an onstage performance from five musicians from the Canberra Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble—two violins, a viola, a cello and a keyboard.

I can only rejoice that Canberra audiences saw this remarkable work, outstandingly produced by independent production company Visions. It is a shame that MOUNTAIN had just one performance in Canberra.

Michelle Potter, 23 October 2026

Featured image: A moment from the last section of MOUNTAIN. Photographer not identified

I was a guest of the Canberra Theatre Centre for this production.

With apologies, this review is late in being posted and is, perhaps, not as analytically written as is my wont. Managing an incident of social media abuse got in the way, momentarily.

Five favourites from 2025

It is never an easy job to choose a few favourites from among the productions one was fortunate to have seen in any one year, but what follows is my attempt to do just that. I have arranged my five favourites chronologically according to the month in which I saw each production.

As a result of a generous birthday gift that lasted over the whole (almost) of 2025, I also saw throughout the year a number of Royal Ballet productions via that company’s streaming platform. A presentation of Enigma Variations, filmed in 2019, was exceptionally engrossing. But I have restricted my five favourites to productions from Australian companies.

All In from Dance Makers Collective

All In was the first production I had had the opportunity to see from Dance Makers Collective, an organisation based in Western Sydney working with and between dance theatre, contemporary dance and social dance, and with the aim of building dance communities. The All In production featured Indigenous-focused dance, Western-style contemporary dance, Spanish-Flamenco and an Indian-focused section. It culminated in a finale in which the audience rose from their seats and joined the dancers on the floor. Young and old, experienced and not so experienced, all were present moving together.

So, apart from the thrill of watching a beautifully performed, diverse selection of dance styles, All In showed us is that dance is for everyone and that it exists beyond what might be called a mainstage show.

Here is a link to my review from January 2025.

Essor from Yolanda Lowatta

Canberra’s National Portrait Gallery has often shown dance as an adjunct to exhibitions on show in the gallery. Essor (the translation from an Indigenous language is ‘Thank you’) was created in response to Some Lads, a series of portraits by renowned Australian photographer, Tracey Moffatt. It was a solo work created and danced by Indigenous performer Yolanda Lowatta who was then working with Australian Dance Party. Lowatta’s dancing was exceptionally fluid and also highly intricate. It also was stylistically diverse and represented, to my mind, the different movement styles of the artists in the photographs, who were Indigenous artists whose work Lowatta admired.

Essor was danced to a soundscape by Indigenous multi-artist Bindimu. It contained sounds of water; the playing of Indigenous instruments; sounds from nature, including bird calls; human voices; and a range of other audio items. Just as Lowatta’s choreography referenced different dance styles, Bindimu’s soundscape took us, potentially, from venue to venue where dance might have been seen.

Yolanda Lowatta in *Essor*. Gordon Darling Hall, National Portrait Gallery, 2025. Photo: © Creswick Collective

I was greatly moved by this work: by the choreography, by the technical aspects of Lowatta’s performance, and by the magical soundscape.

Here is a link to my review from March 2025.

Cranko. The film

The film Cranko was shown in Canberra as part of the 2025 German Film Festival. Directed and written by Joachim Lang, it followed the career of South African-born dancer and choreographer John Cranko who directed Stuttgart Ballet from 1961 until 1973. It was a completely engrossing ‘biopic’ showing the personality and activities of man whose life was devoted to dance. There was also some spectacular dancing from current members of Stuttgart Ballet, especially from Elisa Badenes.

I really enjoyed the way this film held one’s attention from beginning to end. The strength of its impact encouraged me to look further into the circumstances of Cranko’s death, which occurred on board a plane returning to Stuttgart after company engagements in the United States.

Here is a link to my review from May 2025.

4seasons. Queensland Ballet

Natalie Weir’s 4seasons was shown as part of a Queensland Ballet triple bill called Lister/Weir/Horsman. In typical Weir fashion the pas de deux in the work were just magnificent. But the whole was brilliantly conceived and filled with surprises, especially in Weir’s use of the space of the stage.

A moment from *4 seasons*. Photo: © David Kelly

Scroll down this link to find my review of 4seasons from June 2025.

Unungkati Yantatja: one with the other. Sydney Dance Company

It was a real thrill to see a new work from Stephen Page in which he demonstrated again his interest in working collaboratively. Unungkati Yantatja: one with the other formed part of a triple bill, Continuum, from Sydney Dance Company. Page’s work focused on ‘the universality of breath’ and featured live music, performed onstage with input from William Barton, great stage design from Jacob Nash, and magnificent costumes from Jennifer Irwin. A notable input from former Bangarra dancer Ryan Pearson was an added highlight.

Scroll down this link to find my review of Unungkati Yantatja: one with the other from October 2025.

Michelle Potter, 28 December 2025

Featured Image: A moment from the finale to All In with instructions to the dancers from the audience to ‘Go Anywhere’. Dance Makers Collective, 2025. Photo: © Anya McKee

I was a guest of Dance Makers Collective, Queensland Ballet, and Sydney Dance Company at the performances mentioned above.

Canberra Critics’ Circle Dance Awards, 2025

11 November 2025. Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra

Dance in Canberra in the twelve months from October 2024 and September 2025 was recognised with three awards by the Canberra Critics’ Circle. Awardees were Alison Plevey and Sara Black, Ausdance ACT, and Akira Byrne from QL2 Dance. The following citations give details:

For the exceptional production of a solo dance work, Essor (translation: Thank You) in response to photographic material by renowned photographer Tracey Moffatt on display at the National Portrait Gallery; and for their mentorship of dancer Yolanda Lowatta.
ALISON PLEVEY and SARA BLACK

Yolanda Lowatta in the Gordon Darling Hall, 2025. Photo: © Creswick Collective

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For providing young dancers with a professionally curated and technically sophisticated platform for dance and choreography as it celebrated its 40th Anniversary of the Youth Dance Festival at Canberra Theatre in November 2024 with the theme, What Do You Dream?
AUSDANCE ACT

The graphic designed by Natsuko Yonezawa for the 2024 Youth Dance Festival

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For her powerful solo ‘A Destination Should Not Be Expected’ created and performed as part of the QL2 Dance Emerging Choreographers Program, inspired by her own battle with chronic pain and endometriosis. AKIRA BYRNE

Akira Byrne in ‘A Destination Should not be Expected’. QL2 Dance, 2024. Photo: © Olivia Wikner

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MIchelle Potter, 13 November 2025

Featured image: Receiving awards for dance at the Canberra Critics’ Circle presentation, 2025.
(l-r) Emma Dykes (Ausdance ACT), Isabelle Lee (Ausdance ACT), Michael Pettersson MLA (ACT Arts Minister), Akira Byrne (QL2 Dance), Sara Black (Australian Dance Party) and Alison Plevey (Australian Dance Party). Photo: © Brian Rope Photography

Dance diary. March 2025

Norton Owen. Director of Preservation, Jacob’s Pillow

Norton Owen is Director of Preservation at Jacob’s Pillow, an exceptional centre for dance that includes a school and a performance space in Becket, Massachusetts, in the beautiful mountainous region of the Berkshires. Norton has been awarded the 2025 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. It is in celebration of his 50th year of being on the staff of Jacob’s Pillow and carries a cash award of $25,000, to be used however the awardee wishes. It also includes a custom-designed glass sculpture by Berkshire-based artist Tom Patti. The award is financed by an ongoing annual gift from an anonymous donor.

I have great memories of Norton and his work, including the ‘Pillow Talk’ I did with Gideon Obarzanek at Jacob’s Pillow way back in 2007. The invitation for me to participate came from Norton and since then I have enjoyed following the work he does. In particular I love receiving the monthly playlist of excerpts from footage preserved at Jacob’s Pillow, which reflects the works that have been presented over the years at the Pillow.

From the March 2025 playlist, whose title is ‘Ailey Connections’, I especially enjoyed Pas de Duke, created originally for Judith Jamison and Mikhail Baryshnikov by Alvin Ailey in 1976 to ‘Old Man Blues’ by Duke Ellington. The footage of Pas de Duke on the March 2025 playlist is from a 2024 presentation, performed on that occasion by two alumni of Jacob’s Pillow school—Jacquelin Harris and Patrick Coker. Watch the 2024 Pas de Duke here.

But the playlist is but one aspect of a wider online platform for which Norton is responsible—Jacob’s Pillow Dance Interactive. It can by accessed at this link.

Norton’s award is so well-deserved. He is an exceptional curator of dance matters.

Recent reading

Again from my collection of dance books that either I didn’t get around to reading when I first acquired them, or that have generated new interest for one reason or another, I have just finished reading Carolyn Brown’s autobiography, Chance and Circumstance. Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham, and am in the middle of Jann Parry’s biography of Kenneth MacMillan, Different Drummer. The Life of Kenneth MacMillan.

Chance and Circumstance is surprising in its honest account of Brown’s attitude to her career and contains many, many insights into the personalities with whom she worked. Different Drummer is no hagiography! Parry gives a startling account of MacMillan’s mental issues, his alcoholism, and his bouts of anxiety, all of which explain to a certain extent the nature of the subjects he chose for his works. Both are well worth reading.

Some statistics for ‘on dancing’

I am always interested to read, via Google Analytics, which posts on this website are the most popular and which cities login to the site most frequently. In the last week of March, Sydney, London, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Wellington were the top five cities (in numerical order). Everything changes of course, even from day to day, and popularity reflects the timing of posts in most cases. In the last week in March, the top five posts in order were ‘RNZB with Scottish Ballet’; ‘Romeo and Juliet. Queensland Ballet’; ‘Essor. Yolanda Lowatta’; and ‘Choros (I dance). Coralie Hinkley’.

I am sometimes curious when an older post pops up and, just recently, my obituary for philanthropist, Anne Bass, published in April 2020, kept appearing on the top ten list. I did a bit of research and discovered that her apartment on 5th Ave, New York, had been sold in January 2025. Clearly there had been interest in what had appeared online about her. And, as a matter of particular interest, her beautiful statue by Degas, ‘Little dancer aged fourteen’, sold separately two years earlier for a record price of $41.6 million.

I continue to think of her often. My 2020 obituary is at this link,

Michelle Potter, 31 March 2025

Featured image: Norton Owen at Blake’s Barn, Jacob’s Pillow. Photo: © Bill Wright

Essor. Yolanda Lowatta

My review of Essor a solo performance from Yolanda Lowatta was published online on 02 March 2025 by CBR CityNews. Read it at this link.. Below is a slightly enlarged version of the review.

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01 March 2025. Gordon Darling Hall, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

There is much to admire about Essor, a 20-minute solo performance choreographed and danced at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) by Indigenous performer, Yolanda Lowatta. Lowatta is a member of Canberra’s Australian Dance Party and the Party’s leaders, Alison Plevey and Sara Black, produced Essor, which was commissioned by the NPG.

As has been the case whenever a dance performance has been commissioned by the NPG (and there have been quite a few such commissions over the past several years), Essor was created in response to photographic material currently on display in the Gallery—in this case to Some Lads, a series of portraits by renowned Australian photographer, Tracey Moffatt. The images are of dancers connected with the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Development Centre who had influenced Lowatta in some way and include Russell Page, Graham Blanco, Matthew Doyle, and Gary Lang. The name of the work, Essor, is an Indigenous word meaning ‘thank you’ and the work is Lowatta’s recognition of the impact those lads have had on her.

It was a real pleasure to watch Lowatta’s sense of movement as displayed in her choreography. There was a beautiful overall fluidity in her manner of moving, especially in the arms and upper body. But within this fluidity there were many moments of detail especially in the fingers and in the positions taken by the feet. There were moments, too, when a smile crossed her face suggesting that she was recalling a particular moment in relation to one of her mentors.

Yolanda Lowatta in the Gordon Darling Hall, 2025. Photo: © Creswick Collective

But what was remarkable was the way in which Lowatta referenced different styles of dance, all of which must have influenced her current, personal movement style. Some movements seemed to come straight from the dance style seen in clan performances from Indigenous women; some referenced Western contemporary dance, especially those grounded movements that were interspersed throughout; some, such as the leaps with a leg held in arabesque, were quite balletic.

This stylistic diversity, which never looked jarring or lacking in harmony, was reflected in an exceptional soundscape from Indigenous multi-artist Bindimu. It contained sounds of water; the playing of Indigenous instruments; sounds from nature, including bird calls; human voices; and a range of other audio items. Just as Lowatta’s choreography referenced different dance styles, Bindimu’s soundscape took us, potentially, from venue to venue, that is to a selection of places where dance might been seen.

Bindimu was also responsible for Lowatta’s costume—a dark purple ‘grass’ skirt and top worn over a Western style close fitting pair of black shorts with a separate top. Again, there was a strong reference to more than one aspect of Lowatta’s career.

The work was structured around a circle of audience members, seated on the floor in the centre of the Gordon Darling Hall, with a few regular seats, placed outside the circle, for older people. Lowatta moved this way and that and often traversed the circular space occupied by the seated audience. But as the soundscape came to an end, Lowatta led the audience from the Hall to the Gallery where the Moffatt portraits were hanging. She left us there, after well-deserved and loudly expressed applause, to admire the photographs and, as a result, to reflect further on Essor.

Michelle Potter, 02 March 2025

Featured image: Yolanda Lowatta in the Gordon Darling Hall, 2025. Photo: © Creswick Collective

Hillscape. The Film

Hillscape, a site-specific work with choreography by Ashlee Bye, was given just one live performance in April 2023 at Canberra’s National Arboretum as part of the Canberra International Music Festival. I reviewed it then—see this link—and largely thought that it was quite an exceptional work. I did have one issue, however, and that was that the venue, including where the audience was required to be positioned, didn’t allow us (or me anyway) to enjoy fully the choreography. We were watching it from something of a distance! But at some stage Hillscape was filmed for Ausdance ACT by Cowboy Hat Films and was shown just recently as part of Ausdance ACT’s Dance Week 2024 program.

The film allows the occasional close-up of the choreography and it was a particular pleasure to watch these close-up sections. I was especially taken by a trio where Bye explored the use of the arms in relation to the body. I was impressed too with a close up of a solo by Yolanda Lowatta where the hands featured. Also enjoyable were various views of the three dancers exploring the space of the hillside with all kinds of action, including various rolling movements across the grass. The film also gave stronger sound to Dan Walker’s commissioned score with its assortment of instruments and voices. It was absolutely absorbing.

One side issue:
Although I have no formal evidence for when Hillscape was filmed, it seems not to have been at the original performance. The grass was not nearly so green in the film as I remember from the live performance, and as appears in the still images I have used here, and in my original review. Not that it is a major issue! The venue is still stunning and in fact seems even more exceptional in the film, which looks at the work from several positions so we get a wider or more diverse view of the location than was possible when seated in just one position as was the case during the live show.

With thanks to Ausdance ACT for making the film available. I’m not sure when, or if, the film will be made publicly accessible but I hope it happens.

Michelle Potter, 6 May 2024

Featured image: (l-r) Yolanda Lowatta, Patricia Hayes-Kavanagh and Ashlee Bye in Hillscape, Australian Dance Party, 2023. Photo: © Olivia Wikner

Hillscape. Australian Dance Party

28 April 2023. National Arboretum, Canberra

Hillscape, choreographed by Ashlee Bye in association with Australian Dance Party, was performed in the Amphitheatre at Canberra’s National Arboretum. It is a stunning outdoor venue with one problem—from where we the audience were required to position ourselves (on the very edge of the huge circular space, mostly standing unless we had brought a folding chair or were prepared to sit on the grass), the dancers were tiny figures in a vast grassy area. Luckily the images below give a close-up look at the nature of the choreography, which was not so clear from the edges of the amphitheatre. Peter Hislop’s image, as the featured one on this post, also shows the three black devices that produced (beautifully) Dan Walker’s original score commissioned by A Major Lift.

Early in Hillscape, the dancers worked with long pieces of cloth in shades of light and dark pink, sometimes with each performer manipulating an individual piece, at other times working together with one piece of cloth. And this separation/togetherness was an ongoing featured of Hillscape. The three dancers constantly came together and separated.

Patricia Hayes-Cavanagh, Yolanda Lowatta and Ashlee Bye in *Hillscape*, Australian Dance Party, 2023. Photo: © Peter Hislop

Ashlee Bye, Patricia Hayes-Cavanagh and Yolanda Lowatta in *Hillscape*, Australian Dance Party, 2023. Photo: © Peter Hislop

(left) Patricia Hayes-Kavanagh, Ashlee Bye and Yolanda Lowatta; (right) Yolanda Lowatta. Hillscape, Australian Dance Party, 2023. Photos: © Michelle Potter

But ultimately the frustrating view we got from afar had to be seen as a reflection of the focus of the work—the endless cycle of generation and regeneration taking place in a vast landscape, made more relevant given that the Arboretum was created on land that was burnt to cinders in the disastrous bushfires that hit Canberra twenty years ago in 2003. There were moments in the work when it seemed that there was a struggle to survive, but others when growth seemed assured, and indeed had happened. But, nevertheless, I wished I could have had a closer view of the choreography, especially the detailed movements but also of the lyrical, swirling sections danced with skill and style by the three dancers.

Hillscape, commissioned by Ausdance ACT as part of its Dance Week program, was a component of Seeds of Life, a session in the 2023 Canberra International Music Festival (CIMF). It was preceded by a performance from clarinettist Oliver Shermacher, which we saw and heard in the Margaret Whitlam Pavilion; and three other musical presentations that took place in various outdoor locations in the Gallery of Gardens. Shermacher’s performance was a brilliant display of a highly theatrical attitude to musical presentation as at one stage he involved the audience using their mobile phones to provide a background to his playing, and he sang, spoke, moved (danced?) and generally surprised throughout.

Despite my frustrations, I am pleased I was able to see Hillscape, which had just one performance as part of CIMF. It not only suggested that Ashlee Bye is a choreographer to watch, but continued Australian Dance Party’s image as a company presenting site-specific works with unusual vision and inventiveness.

MIchelle Potter, 29 April 2023

Featured image: Patricia Hayes-Cavanagh, Ashlee Bye and Yolanda Lowatta in Hillscape, Australian Dance Theatre, 2023. Photo: © Peter Hislop.

Below is what the performance looked like from the edges of the amphitheatre!

Culture Cruise. Australian Dance Party

5 November 2022. Lake Burley Griffin and Canberra cultural institutions

There it was waiting as we arrived at Canberra’s Lawson Crescent Viewing Dock, a wharf at the edge of the site of the National Museum of Australia. It was a small orange boat holding 28 passengers and named ‘The Gull’. Formerly a fishing boat and now captained by the capable and knowledgeable Jim Patterson, it was to take us on a ‘Culture Cruise’, a four hour journey, which began and finished on Lake Burley Griffin, and which was the brainchild of the ever-adventurous Australian Dance Party.

The first leg of the trip took us across the calm and peaceful waters of the lake to Queen Victoria Wharf not far from Canberra’s Reconciliation Place. It was a relaxing ride of 20 minutes or so and it was a pleasure to see the buildings that we in Canberra know well but mostly see from a different vantage point. For those who may not know the buildings that dot Canberra’s lake shores, Captain Jim had a number of stories, historical and sometimes humour-filled, to tell.

The dancing began as we walked up to and through Reconciliation Place and continued as we crossed to the Portrait Gallery. Yolanda Lowatta danced solo during this part of the journey. She was a powerful figure in the quite simple choreography, which sometimes was performed around the structures making up the Place, and sometimes in the surrounding grassy and tree-filled landscape. Her strength had an emotional underpinning and gave rise to thoughts on the Indigenous aspects of the land on which she was dancing, and across which we were walking, Ngunnawal land.

From Reconciliation Place we walked on to the National Portrait Gallery where a row of seats outside the Gallery entrance awaited us. The performance began with music from jazz vocalist and composer Creswick (aka Liam Budge) who was soon joined by dancer Levente Szabo and then Lowatta. Szabo’s dancing was quite acrobatic while Lowatta’s had something of a Hispanic feel to it. They danced together and separately and their dancing, especially their interactions (sometimes also with Creswick), was always stimulating to watch. After this section of dancing we entered the Portrait Gallery and were given some time to see the art works on show, especially in the current exhibition, Who are you: Australian portraiture. Amongst a huge range of art works in the exhibition one stood out on this occasion for me, a charming head and shoulders portrait, which I had not seen before, of Dame Margaret Scott created by Kenneth Rowell in 1949.

Perhaps my favourite part of the journey came as we left the Portrait Gallery and headed in the direction of the National Gallery. We were led on this part of the journey by Levente Szabo who danced across the plaza in front of the High Court and over the bridge linking the the two well-known ‘brutalist’ buildings, the High Court itself and the National Gallery. He used the structures surrounding the buildings, and the space they occupied, in an interactive and skilful manner, and worked in a similar way as we moved past the Gallery and towards our lunch stop.

Levente Szabo on the bridge between the High Court and the National Gallery of Australia. Canberra 2022

Lunch was served at the Jetty Kiosk before we took to the boat again, with a glass of local wine, for another relaxing journey on water back to our starting point. The adventure ended in the amphitheatre at the Garden of Australian Dreams at the National Museum where we were entertained again by Creswick before being invited to experience the Museum’s newest space the Great Southern Land Gallery.

Liam Budge performing at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra 2022

Culture Cruise was created and presented by the Australian Dance Party as part of the Canberra Art Biennial. It was an extraordinarily memorable experience led by Stefanie Lekkas, a guide with a strong theatrical background, and with Indigenous cultural input from Ngunnawal advisors Aunty Caroline Hughes and Tara Hughes. It brought together over half a day so many aspects of Canberra’s cultural life—art, architecture, dance, music, food and wine and more—as well as giving an opportunity to take in the immediate landscape, the expansive lake and the beautiful surrounding mountains, the Brindabellas. While it would be an exceptional experience for visitors to Canberra, I (having lived in Canberra for 50+ years now) found so much to enjoy and think about. There are plans for Culture Cruise to continue in 2023. Do take the opportunity to join a cruise. You won’t be disappointed.

Michelle Potter, 8 November 2022

Featured image: ‘The Gull’ moored at Lawson Crescent Viewing Deck.

All photos: Michelle Potter

Elma Kris and Daniel Riley in 'Spear'. Photo Tiffany Parker

Dance diary. November 2018

The changing face of Bangarra Dance Theatre

Bangarra Dance Theatre has just announced that the company is saying farewell at the end of the year to six of its dancers: Waangenga Blanco, Daniel Riley, Tara Robertson, Kaine Sultan-Babij, Luke Currie-Richardson and Yolanda Lowatta. Each has made an amazing contribution to Bangarra over recent years. Who can forget Daniel Riley’s remarkable performances in the film Spear, and his equally powerful dancing and acting as Governor Macquarie in Jasmine Sheppard’s Macq? Then it’s hard to forget, again in Spear, Kaine Sultan Babij as ‘Androgynous Man’ stalking through long grass and between trees? And there is a myriad of performances from Waangenga Blanco that stand out. As well as his role in Patyegarang, there is the ‘Angel’ duet, danced with Leonard Mickelo, in Riley, and his powerful performance in Frances Rings’ Terrain. So much more …

I wish them all well for wherever their dancing takes them and look forward to seeing them before they leave in Dubboo, opening shortly in Sydney. And of course there is the thrill of seeing new dancers in 2019.

Waangenga Blanco in 'Patyegarang', Bangarra Dance Theatre, 2014. Photo: Greg Barrett — Waangenga Blanco in *Patyegarang*, Bangarra Dance Theatre, 2014. Photo: © Greg Barrett

Robert Helpmann. The many faces of a theatrical dynamo

A new book of essays on Robert Helpmann has recently been published. It contains essays from a range of scholars and performers and is supplemented by a DVD of archival footage, including a documentary on the revival of Miracle in the Gorbals in 2014 by Birmingham Royal Ballet

My chapter, ‘Elektra. Helpmann uninhibited’ considers the origins of Helpmann’s ballet Elektra, Helpmann’s choreographic approach, and the differences, particularly in relation to Arthur Boyd’s designs, between the English production of Elektra in 1963 and that presented by the Australian Ballet at the Adelaide Festival in 1966.

Edited by Richard Cave and Anna Meadmore. Published in the United Kingdom by Dance Books in October 2018.
ISBN 9781852731793

Available from Dance Books Ltd and other retailers.

Canberra Critics’ Circle Awards, 2018 (Dance)

Canberra Critics’ Circle, now almost 30 years old, held its annual awards in November. This years dance awards went to:

Liz Lea: For the multi-media production RED, which drew together the work of four choreographers, including Lea, in a moving, courageous and dramatically coherent exploration of the medical condition of endometriosis.
My review of RED is at this link.

Alison Plevey and the Australian Dance Party: For Seamless, an innovative, well-considered and theatrically staged comment on the fashion industry, performed with wit and skill at the 2017 Floriade Fringe.
My review of Seamless is at this link.

Seamless, Floriade Fringe 2017. Australian Dance Party. Photo: Lorna Sim — Scene from *Seamless*, Floriade Fringe 2017. Australian Dance Party. Photo: © Lorna Sim

Emma Nikolic and Karen Brock: For their innovative choreography for the Canberra Philharmonic Society’s production of Strictly Ballroom. Their inventive interpretations of a number of traditional ballroom dance styles allowed the large ensemble of dancers to convince as champion ballroom dance contestants.

Michelle Heine: For her choreography for Free Rain Theatre Company’s production of 42nd Street. Her choreography for the spectacular production numbers successfully captured the authentic Broadway feel of the musical and was exceptionally well danced by the ensemble.

James Batchelor

Canberra dance goers will be interested to learn that James Batchelor will be back working in Canberra in 2019. He will be showing his latest work, Hyperspace, at a time and a Canberra venue to be announced. Hyperspace was made in 2018 during residencies in Nottingham, England, and Bassano del Grappa, Italy, and was recently performed in the B.motion festival in Bassano and at La Briqueterie Paris. It will also be part of the Dance Massive 2019 line up in Melbourne.

Batchelor is also looking forward to creating a new full-length work for Quantum Leap. It will premiere as QL2’s major work for the full ensemble at the Playhouse in August.

NGA Play. Sally Smart

The National Gallery of Australia has just installed a new children’s play area that highlights aspects of the Gallery’s extensive collection of costumes from the era of the Ballet Russes. It is designed by Melbourne-based artist Sally Smart, one of whose interests is in the juxtaposition of the art of the Ballets Russes with contemporary ideas of assemblage, cut-out items and patchwork-style lengths of fabric.

Dance features in a series of projections of dancer Brooke Stamp improvising in homage to and inspired by the dances of the Ballets Russes era (with a nod to Javanese dance). Stamp performed live (a one-off performance) at the opening of the play area early in November.

Brooke Stamp improvises for 'NGA Play. Sally Smart', 2018 — Brooke Stamp improvising at the opening of the National Gallery of Australia’s children’s installation. Photo: Michelle Potter

Press for November 2018

’Rudolf Nureyev.’ Program article for La Scala Ballet’s Australian season, 2018. This article contains two very interesting, casual photos of Nureyev (one with Fonteyn), which I have not come across before.

‘Movement and message fail to link.’ Review of Australian Dance party’s Energeia. The Canberra Times, 22 November 2018, p. 20. Online version

Michelle Potter, 30 November 2018

Ochres. Bangarra Dance Theatre

4 December 2015, Carriageworks, Eveleigh (Sydney)

Seeing Ochres in 2015 after 21 years was a remarkable experience. More than anything it marked the astonishing achievement of Stephen Page and his team of artists. Through the creativity that has characterised Bangarra’s journey, Page has given Australian Indigenous culture a powerful voice. Ochres was an eye opener in 1994. Now it is a powerful evocation of all that Bangarra stands for.

Djakapurra Munyarryun and Bangarra dancers in 'Black' from Ochres, 2015. Photo:-Jhuny-Boy Borja — Djakapurra Munyarryun and Bangarra dancers in ‘Black’ from *Ochres*, 2015. Photo: © Jhuny-Boy Borja

This 2015 Ochres is not an exact rendition of the original. It is promoted as a ‘reimagining’ of that early show but is definitely close enough for those who saw it in the 1990s to feel they are seeing the work again.

As it did in 1994, the 2015 Ochres begins with a scene featuring cultural consultant Djakapurra Munyarryun, not this time painting up with yellow ochre, but singing a song, Ngurrtja—Land Cleansing Song–composed especially (I believe) for this 2015 production. He has, as ever, huge power and presence. He stood perfectly still for several seconds before beginning his song and the effect was mesmerising.

Torres Starait Islander Elma Kris, another of Bangarra’s consultants, follows with a section called The Light in which she, like Djakapurra Munyarryun had done previously, smeared her limbs and face with yellow ochre.

These opening scenes are followed by the four ‘ochre sections’—’Yellow’ inspired by female energy, ‘Black’ representing male energy, ‘Red’ showing male and female relations, and ‘White’ inspired by history and its influence on the future.

In ‘Yellow’, choreographed by Bernadette Walong-Sene, the women dance low to the ground. Their movements are most often flowing and they have an organic look to them. Deborah Brown shows her remarkable skills throughout this section. How beautiful to see a relatively classical move, a turn in a low arabesque with one hand on the shoulder for example, followed by sudden movements of the head as if she is curious about, and watchful for what is happening around her. Brown always looks good no matter what style her movements represent.

‘Black’, with contemporary choreography from Stephen Page and traditional choreography from Djakapurra Munyarryun, shows power and masculinity—hunters crouching behind bushes, warriors with their weapons sparring with each other. This section is also characterised by some nicely performed unison work.

‘Red’ has the strongest narrative element of the four sections. It focuses on four different expressions of male/female relationships moving from youthful dalliance featuring Beau Dean Riley Smith, Nicola Sabatino and Yolanda Lowatta to the final section ‘Pain’ in which Elma Kris cares for an ailing man, danced by Daniel Riley. But in between we can imagine other relationships. Domestic violence and addiction perhaps?

‘White’ concludes the program. The two cultural consultants, Elma Kris and Djakapurra Munyarryun, lead this final section and, with all the dancers covered with white ochre, a spiritual quality emerges from sections representing a range of concepts from kinship to totemic ideas. The choreography is credited to Stephen Page, Bernadette Walong-Sene, and Djakapurra Munyarryun.

Jennifer Irwin’s costumes are cleanly cut and simply coloured. Jacob Nash’s set, looking like long shards of bark, hangs in the centre of the space above a sandy mound. It is lit in changing colours by Joseph Mercurio. A score by David Page is evocative of the 1990s but retains enough power and emotion to feel relevant still.

The kind of fusion of contemporary and traditional movements we have come to expect from Bangarra’s dancers is all there and reflects the fact that Bangarra is an urban Aboriginal initiative with strong links back to its cultural heritage. And, while the dancers of 1994 were extraordinary (a list of the 1994 team appears in the program), the manner in which Bangarra has grown technically is also clear. Its dancers are spectacularly good and their commitment shines through.

Michelle Potter, 9 December 2015

For more about Djakapurra Munyarryun follow this link.