Expressions Dance Company: "Black" -
Cremorne, QPAC, 12 February -
"Black" is the first outcome of a five-year cross-cultural exchange program, the Chinese Australian Dance Exchange Project 2015-2020, which will see Expressions Dance Company (EDC) work and perform with dance companies across China.
Collaborating first with Guangdong Modern Dance Company (GMDC), the EDC dancers spent four weeks in Guangzhou in 2015, with choreographer Xing Liang and the GMDC dancers, creating the work Black, which premiered as the final piece in this program of three works. Cohesively all works have black and white costume designs, and lighting by Low Shee Hoe.
Based on the ancient saying that a grain as tiny as a mustard seed can reveal all the wonders of Mount Sumeru (considered by Buddhist cosmology to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritual universes), Sumeru, the opening work by GMDC resident choreographer Liu Qi, seeks to reveal the metaphysical via the physical.
The work is a series of movements for different dancers that flow seamlessly from one to the other. The movement itself, fluid, loose, but very controlled, is underpinned by a rhythmic, pulsating score, punctuated by the chiming of Asian bells. The repeated motif of picking a grain from the air with the fingertips punctuates a beautiful liquidity of the arms and upper body.
Ten dancers on stage at once highlighted the beauty of movement performed in unison, while the strength of the men was evident in wonderfully athletic spins and high extensions. Clearly defined lines and strong partnering skills were evident in a couple of the movements while dancers wearing flesh coloured socks, which allowed sliding entrances in a wide second position, added another dimension to the movement.
Natalie Weir’s Don’t explores the emotional power of words, perhaps rather ironically given the muteness of dance. And there is no spoken text here; rather the words reveal themselves when black, wood cut-outs of letters are assembled and disassembled to form ‘Stay’, ‘Go’ and ‘Don't’.
The emotion is propelled as much by the music, a rich compilation by Max Richter from the classical canon, as it is by the dance. Richard Causer, bare chested in tight black jeans, opened the work. A sinuous manipulation of the upper body that displayed the rippled muscularity of his back, developed into a solo of beautiful clarity. His is a welcome return to EDC.
Elise May leads a strong company of dancers. The recent departure of Jack Ziesing was minimised with a strong performance by trainee Jag Popham, Rebecca Hall showed skill in a trio of aerial acrobatics with Popham and Causer, while Cloudia Elder was poignant in a solo relating to the word ‘Go’. Michelle Barnett was also back in form after time off with injury in a duet ('Don’t') with Benjamin Chapman.
The final moments of this compact work are its most powerful as, with all seven dancers on stage, Weir shows her skill in dramatically manipulating a mass of bodies using spectacular lifts and throws.
Ling’s collaboration with the dancers for Black used their experiences to explore the colour’s ‘dreamlike, fleeting and ineffable charm’. Again there is a series of different movements (to an, at times, percussive music design by Kung Chi Shing), this time separated by long moments of silence - sometimes in blackout. A bank of amber spot lights that fade on and off at various intervals act as a back cloth projecting directly into the audience.
At times the very fluid movement clearly references the oriental, particularly in a beautiful section with five of the GMDC dancers. And the opening sequence is breathtaking – rapid staccato movement by four of the men punctuating the space around them.
The similar physicality of the dancers produced a visually cohesive group, and it was a treat to see so many contemporary dancers on stage at once – their differences and similarities. Collaborations are therefore not only enriching for those participating – we, the audience, ultimately reap the benefit.
- DENISE RICHARDSON
Top photo: David Kelly (click on thumbnail for caption)
"Black" runs until 20 February.