NAISDA Dance College: From Sand to Stage
Bay 17, Carriageworks, 17 November 2016
This year, NAISDA’s production of "From Sand to Stage" was more than a graduation show. Naturally, as an end of year performance, it presented the graduating and continuing dance students of NAISDA Dance College in a range of choreographed works. But in the broader context of celebrating NAISDA’s 40th anniversary, this production also traced the development of NAISDA within the broader context of the development of Aboriginal activism in Australia.
This was an ambitious project that drew together newly commissioned works from three guest choreographers, some vintage works from Carole Y Johnson (one of NAISDA’s key founding figures), and student works, ending with some traditional Aboriginal dances and songs of the Datiwuy Clan from North East Arnhem Land. Director Frances Rings loosely structured the program into three sections, Past, Present and Future, but without intervals it was sometimes hard to follow the narrative thread and to tell where one section ended and the next one began. There was a lot to like about this program but almost too much material to take in and process in one evening. Still, it is better to aim high and fall slightly short of the mark than to aim low and comfortably meet expectations. The volume of creative talent on show was certainly impressive.
Omer Backley-Astrachan’s Blinders (choreographed in conjunction with Certificate III students) is a powerful work and the combination of Elvis Presley’s mournful "Can’t Help Falling in Love" with shifting images of the diverse Australian landscape made an impression that lingered long after the work had finished. Excerpts from Elma Kris's Emeret Lu and About, originally created for Bangarra Dance Theatre, showed the Bangarra fusion of lyrical contemporary and Indigenous dance at its best and Carole Y Johnson’s Brown Skin Baby solo (danced with dramatic sensitivity by Coleen Jerrard) took us back to the African American tradition of dance activism that was a key influence in NAISDA’s early years.
Vicki Van Hout’s reimagining of Carole Y Johnson’s Embassy was also very good, especially her set concept and design; the creative use of props including tent like structures that directed and contained the dancers’ movement, and protest placards that later formed the backdrop for a projected recording. As a side note, the use of audio recordings and the dancers’ own spoken voice work throughout the whole production would have more impact if it was clearer and easier to understand.
The accompanying printed program was excellent and provided a whole lot of historical background and context to NAISDA’s emergence as a training institution on the 1970’s; as well as choreographers’ notes that helped to clarify the symbolism and intent of some pieces. There were definitely some standouts among the dancers on the night, but unfortunately, the listing of cast members in small groups didn’t allow me to confidently identify individual dancers. As a school, NAISDA’s dancers are more diverse in build, technique and style than the graduates of many other tertiary dance programs, and this, I think, is actually one of their strengths. Here’s to another 40 years!
- GERALDINE HIGGINSON
Above - Ryan Pearson and Natasha Rogers in an excerpt from Elma Kris's Emeret Lu, originally created for Bangarra Dance Theatre. Photo: Michelle Blakeney.