Melbourne Ballet Company
Intention and Desire: The Veil of Maya
Hawthorn Arts Centre, Melbourne, March 4
Small classical and neo-classical companies in Melbourne are more than pulling their weight in making high calibre dance available to local and regional audiences in a way that is geographically inclusive and affordable. Among them is Melbourne Ballet Company, whose 2016 season goes further still by building a series of new works around a concept. This is both a sophisticated but potentially risky approach to programming for a small company that is reliant on attracting and keeping an audience following in order to grow its success. It seeks to take thematic material and thread it through the season, giving coherence and shape to an ongoing narrative. "The Veil of Maya" is the first part of MBC's Intention and Desire series and is a triple bill of new works by local choreographers Lucas Jervies, Alexander Baden Bryce and Timothy Podesta.
Without exception the three works are accomplished and danced with virtuosity and crisp and precise technique; there is nothing small about the vision or quality here, only the company size and resources.
The program opened with Four Ballet choreographed by Lucas Jervies. In this work, distinct episodes bring the four bodies into various spatial relationships. This is beautifully realised with subtle twining movement and a sculptural quality as the dancers merge and reform. The quality is fluid and elastic, rebounding against the playful rhythm of Adam Ster's score. The phrases melt into one another, producing a sustained sense of forward motion. A sharpening of angles becomes more evident as a first episode nears its end. In a short second movement, the phrases are more staccato and work moves in fits and starts. The dancing is impressive and emotionally engaging.
Artifice is choreographed by company member Alex Baden Bryce. Again, it is beautifully danced and simply costumed. The stage set reveals a glimpse of what looks like an abstracted detail from Picasso's Guernica, viewed through a veiled aperture, but it is hard to work out the conceptual connection between painting and dance. Is the choreography working with the tonal qualities of the painting rather than its meaning? Nonetheless, Artifice shows compositional assurance, beginning with five female dancers in a swirling melange of movement that gives way to solo dances and other groupings. In a trio, arms inscribe the angles of the painting. It is an accomplished work.
Tim Podesta's Variations of Ease finds two dancers in a bright stream of light. Dramatic atmospheric music turns menacing and sets up expectations of conflict. This is a work that mixes contemporary dance styles and feels less classically indoctrinated than the previous works. I enjoyed the unexpected breaks into more current forms of contemporary movement and some of the dramatic, sculptural poses, also the differentiated movement languages adopted by various dancers. The male soloist was particularly beautiful - strong and fluid. The particular physicalities of individual dancers also added to the choreographic strength of the works in this program. The pairing of a very tall male, for instance, with the smallest of female partners enhanced the particular qualities of each.
Conceptually, the program notes reference rather a lot of disparate elements, such as Guernica and Buddhism, mixed with contemporary motifs. This makes its focus a little unclear. While it did not detract from the success of the dance itself, it makes it difficult for the viewer to get to the bottom of what the choreographic material wants to say.
Melbourne Ballet Company is creating great work that is a pleasure to see. Its home at Hawthorn Arts Centre is a fabulous revamped building. Unfortunately the auditorium is not sympathetic to performance of this kind. The lack of raked seating means that the audience is looking up to the small stage. The dancers seem distant and their feet aren’t visible. Such a visual perspective also changes our understanding of the movement. It would be interesting to reconsider the use of the space – perhaps moving the seating and taking advantage of the large floor space.
- SUSAN BENDALL