The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) will be presenting its first dance program for 2016 in May. Entitled “Vortex”, the program will be performed by second and third year dance students, and includes new classical and contemporary works.
Queensland based choreographer Garth Belling will create a modern ballet based in the concept of “connections”. Eleven dancers will perform en pointe with metre-long blue LED light tubes.
WAAPA alumnus Paulina Quinteros will is making a work set to the haunting music of Erik Satie. Quinteros combines contemporary and classical dance with circus skills to create a series of dream-like dance vignettes. “The work is a beautiful display of the students’ technique,” says Quinteros. “It really shows the students’ artistry, their dance skills and their acrobatic abilities. They are beautiful performers.”
The third work on the program is co-choreographed by James O’Hara and Balázs Busa (Hungary). The pair describle the creation of the new work as an organic process that is a collaboration between themselves and the students. “We are interested in intuition, in what happens naturally, how the honest reactions of the students and the energy they create feed into the work,” says O’Hara. “It’s a collaboration between the students and us, it’s as much their work as ours.”
The final work on the program is by WAAPA dance lecturer Justin Rutzou. He describes his contemporary piece as “An elephant, some showgirls and an array of headlining acts from around the globe, and someone is determined to kill them all!"
“Vortex” plays the Geoff Gibbs Theatre, Edith Cowan University Mount Lawley, 30 April – 6 May. Head to waapa.ecu.edu.au/boxoffice to book.