Quarry Amphitheatre, Perth
February
Only in Perth! The program opened with a novelty: one-sentence spoken personal introductions from each dancer, passing along a microphone, while seated along the front of the stage. This set a more casual tone than usual - not out of place in the outdoor summer setting.
The premiere of artistic director Ivan Cavallari's Strings 32 followed, initiated by the chords of guest violinist Madeleine Antoine, in a white ballgown, who intermittently walked onstage around the dancers. Set to music of Paganini, Bartok, Bach and Kreisler, this is an odd but reasonably entertaining abstract work of multiple contrasting parts: solos, duos, trios, groups. Choreographically fussy at times, its novelty is the use of a number of long elasticised "strings", attached at one end to a dancer's limb and at the other to a far-away point, such as the opposite wing or the lighting rig. This makes for a particularly risky trio, expertly danced by Fiona Evans, Matthew Lehmann and Daryl Brandwood. Danced in soft shoes with grey and white unitards, this section was more reflective than what preceded, a little reminiscent of Ashton's Monotones. The salmon-coloured duo danced by Jennifer Provins and John Murray was also enjoyable. A quiet ending to the piece re-introduced the strolling violinist, her gown now completely covered by inflated white balloons.
A short pause was scheduled at this point, prior to Serenade - which I had so looked forward to seeing in this Romantic natural setting. It was apparent, however, that condensation had settled on the stage, with two rolls of Tarkett being particularly affected. Murmurs of consternation among audience members were silenced by Cavallari taking the stage. He announced that their ingenious system of heating the floor, just sufficiently to evaporate the moisture, had failed. An unusual (for Perth) 93 per cent humidity was more than the system could cope with. Thus, patience would be needed, as staff and technicians considered their options - the damp stage being too dangerous to dance on.
A relaxed audience was happy to indulge the delay, but the lights remained down, and Cavallari, clearly feeling an obligation to entertain his patrons, morphed into a stand-up comedian! With his usual affable style, he related a joke about a dying nun drinking whiskey, then proceeding to cajole audience members to venture onstage with any of their own entertainment contributions. Having found a newly engaged couple in the front rows, the lady was invited onstage, the couple congratulated and offered free tickets for next summer's Nutcracker. Diana Waldron stepped up, to relate a little of the story of how she and her husband, the late architect Ken Waldron, created The Quarry in the first place. Amazingly, Cavallari then invited onstage one of the dancers, in her Karinska costume, to promote her boyfriend's "Home Open" occurring the next day in nearby Floreat . . . by now there were screams of laughter from a bemused first night audience, who literally didn't know what would happen next.
After perhaps 30 minutes or more, when it might have been better to have brought up the lights and created an early interval, Serenade began unexpectedly with the music booming out of the darkness. Whether the floor still presented problems, or the dancers had lost the spirit by hanging about too long, or the whole situation conspired against them - sadly I have to say that, while this is one of my all-time favourite ballets, this became a performance I hope to forget. Perhaps the lack of containment (by a theatrical proscenium arch) worked against the choreography, when I had expected the opposite. Casting was less than ideal, with the exception of bright Yu Takayama who lifted the atmosphere whenever she appeared. Synchronisation was ragged at times. Whatever the causes, it's the only time I've experienced this "beauty of beauties" and failed to be moved. I would like to take the opportunity to say that, with this ballet, the graduating student performance at WAAPA a few months ago (also staged by Eve Lawson) was far better.
After the scheduled interval, Reed Luplau's The Sixth Borough was given a strong performance. Meg Parry, Sarah Sutcliffe and Victoria Maughan were standouts in this playful work, which was also performed in WAB's State Theatre season late last year.
Terence Kohler's RHETORIC made for an intriguing conclusion. One man trudges onstage, weighed down by the burden of a large flesh-coloured triangular prism, carried on his back. When he unloads the block, placing it onstage, he reveals it carries one word. Successive dancers in flesh-coloured unitards -- some with breast plate armour and helmets or visors, some swathed in blood-tinged rags - each carry on a different word such as Escapist, Centric or Hyper. At one point these blocks are arranged in a standing circle like Stonehenge. The figures remind me of crash-test dummies, with doll-like angular movements. Conflict occurs. Kohler's program notes make reference to World of Warcraft, stating that "RHETORIC is intended to be a virtual game - one where a user navigates their way through different levels by defining, in words, their surrounding environment". Being completely unfamiliar with online gaming, I wonder what I might be missing in understanding this work. Nevertheless, it could be thought-provoking, which is likely to be Kohler's intent.
- SUSAN WHITFORD