Beckett Theatre, Malthouse, Melbourne
September
Local dance company, Melbourne Dance Theatre, presented a new full-length work Heroes, for a short season at the Malthouse Theatre. Based on stories of bravery and survival during the attacks of September 11, this work has been timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of this event which has shaped modern history.
Melbourne Dance Theatre is an offshoot of the dance school run by Michelle and Martin Sierra. It offers full-time, professional company experience for dancers with tertiary dance qualifications and is separate from their student company. The company presents four annual seasons, two featuring classical works and two of contemporary works.
Heroes is a sustained dance work running for around an hour. It is simply staged and costumed. Large blocks are used to construct and dismantle the twin towers of the world trade centre and allow for a flexible dance space. Utilitarian costuming gives an "everyman" uniformity that allows dancers to move between various roles. However, this very uniformity inhibited expressivity in such a sustained work. Perhaps more could have been done with lighting to provide contrast and delineation between the various "scenes".
Heroes is overwhelmingly an ensemble piece, with most of the group onstage for the duration of the work. While this allows for scenes that suggest chaos and simultaneous activity, at times the stage feels overcrowded and the choreography busy. Greater variation in the shape of the work as well as a more direct engagement with particular dancers might have been achieved by leaving the audience alone with only one or two dancers on stage at certain times. Similarly, although the dancers are to be commended for their energy and endurance, the relentless pace of the piece did not allow for moments of contemplation. The use of familiar songs was, for me, a weakness, as this can act to direct audience expectation and response. The inclusion of Bowie's Heroes, especially, as book-ends to the piece seemed a little too obvious and had me wondering whether it was really applicable to a work about September 11.
This work also lacked stillness. The dynamics throughout most of the piece varied little, giving dancers and audience no respite. Perhaps this was the intention, given the nature of the theme. Although the Beckett theatre is a lovely, intimate space, I also felt that this work would have had more impact on a larger stage, a little more remote from the audience. Heroes is a work about epic themes and needed more space to breathe.
Some subject matter is easier to convey in dance than others. It is easier to make an audience laugh than to move them. Tackling a territory as large and politically and emotionally charged as this one is not an easy task for a choreographer. That the work was mostly engaging is an achievement.
The quality of the dancing was generally strong. This is a group of disciplined dancers with good technical skills. Particularly impressive was the partnering and contact work which always looked assured. There were some striking moments in Heroes and the choreography was enjoyable to watch. However, the work started to feel repetitive and could have been pared down slightly without content and intention being lost.
-- SUSAN BENDALL