Victorian College of the Arts graduating student production: "on y va" -
Space 28, Victorian College of the Arts, Southbank, 10 November -
This year’s dance graduates from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) are the first to leave with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance), rather than a Bachelor of Dance. It’s a small but significant distinction, reflecting the ongoing evolution of the school and the courses it offers.
Working with outstanding choreographers on the development and performance of new work is still a major feature of the VCA undergraduate experience, and the class of 2014 have been exposed to a range of choreographic styles.
First in the program of four pieces is Fragile Oasis by Anna Smith. Smith demands virtuosity, technical precision and individual expression, drawing out some strong performances.
In what could be a comment on climate change, Smith weaves an abstract movement vocabulary into a powerful representation of a system on the brink. A dark and rumbling opening scene with sustained spirals, exhalations and contractions gives way to frenzied action, the dancers exploding into split-leg floor rolls and high velocity running, pushing off each other to plunge through the air.
As stunning satellite footage of Earth’s surface looms in the background, the performers form small groups, locked into a cyclical pattern. A soloist breaks out, falling to the floor. She desperately crawls on the spot, reminding us of our potentially calamitous future.
In contrast, Lina Limosani’s God Save The Queen delves into the past for inspiration, re-imagining the battle for power between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots. Darkly comic and extremely violent, Limosani pairs movement with vocalisation to heighten the drama.
Dressed in period garb, the all-female cast emit guttural roars, tittering laughter and a smattering of words as they play out struggles between the queens themselves, and their manipulative courtiers. Karate chops and head slams are accompanied by cartoonish sound effects, but Limosani keeps the chaos on a short leash, tightly choreographing each encounter.
All attempts at narrative are abandoned in Prue Lang’s philosophical exploration, A Signature Species of Semblance. Throughout the piece, snippets of text from Brian Massumi’s book Semblance and Event are projected onto the backdrop. They are dense, almost impenetrable for those of us without much experience in reading philosophy, however, they do at least point to the theories Lang is working with.
Constructed of several discrete segments, the work features a complex, idiosyncratic vocabulary. Two duets, performed at either end of the piece, develop from interlinked bodies. Like concepts which at first appear inseparable, the initial duet sees two dancers dealing with the conjoined circles of their arms. In the subsequent version, performed by different dancers, methods of escape and re-connection are explored, in much the same way as philosophical arguments allow us to reconstruct our understanding of the world.
Fittingly, although somewhat rare in contemporary dance these days, the final piece featured all 25 graduating students. Pterodactyl, choreographed by Stephanie Lake, is almost orchestral in scale and design. Ranging from short solos mildly influenced by krumping and hip-hop to rhythmic breathing and clapping sequences for the entire cohort, the piece covers a broad scope of ideas, all executed with Lake’s typically sharp eye for design.
Elements and influences from Lake’s previous productions find a place, including the group dynamics of Assembly and the turn-taking contact improvisation sequence from A Small Prometheus.
Behind it all is a set of four fluorescent tubes, individually hung so that their arrangement can be changed like that of a line drawing. Inclusive yet personally tailored, Pterodactyl celebrates the strengths of the group and the form.
Despite the demands of four very different choreographers, the students performed admirably, reaching peaks of both technical excellence and dramatic fervour.
- Chloe Smethurst