An evening of contemporary dance with Singapore Dance Theatre and Expressions Dance Company
July 13, Fort Canning Green, Singapore
In celebration of its 25th anniversary year, Singapore Dance Theatre invited Australia to the party.
Back in June Australian Ballet principals Lana Jones and Daniel Gaudiello were guests at an Anniversary Gala at the Esplanade Theatre, and displayed sensational technique and rapport in the pas de deux from Rudolf Nureyev's Don Quixote. Last week, Expressions Dance Company from Brisbane shared the program for the 18th Ballet Under the Stars (BUTS) season, a highly anticipated outdoor event. Artistic director Natalie Weir created a world premiere, 4Seasons, for both companies.
Australian connections with SDT go back to its beginnings – founding director Goh Soo Khim trained at the Australian Ballet School. Many Australian dancers and choreographers have worked with this repertory, classical company - currently Heidi Zolker and Timothy Coleman are First Artists.
BUTS began with the evocative Absence of Story by Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki, performed by the dancers of SDT. Full of lyrical energy, it was an elegy to love and a tribute to the composer Brahms. Nuanced pas de deux and open ended, abstracted ensembles, eloquently danced, allowed us to interpret the work our own way.
Passion and love were on fire in Weir’s extravagant Carmen Sweet, performed brilliantly by Expressions. Sexy, witty and ironic, the dancers’ personalities and physicality led the audience through a journey of seduction, jealousy, lust and revenge. Three female dancers simultaneously portraying Carmen bounced on and off a Dali red lip sofa, intertwined ingeniously, and captivated the three men of this iconic romance, the matador, the soldier and the fortune -teller.
Wier’s 4Seasons, featuring 20 dancers, incorporated many inventive configurations, with the large group of performers juxtaposed against four duets (each pair formed by a dancer from each company). She focused on re-interpreting Vivaldi’s music, eschewing an emphasis on stereotypical seasonal colours and the literal aspects of each section. Rather, the duets represented the feelings of each season, reflecting the progression of moods in a relationship, such as volatile moments, tender expectation, bittersweet longing, loss and nostalgia.
Perhaps the most interesting feature was the difference in interpretation by the dancers from two different companies and locations. The Australians devoured the space, embodying an earthy, powerful strength, while the Singaporean company performed with a poetic lightness; this contrast gave a sweeping canvas of emotions and physical qualities. The contemporary dancers released the movement to the ground while the tiny steps en pointe by Chihiro Uchida from SDT, in her duet with Daryl Brandwood from Expressions, gave the choreography an airy sense of fragility. Weir exploited these stylistic contrasts and dramatically added to the syntax of the theme. Synonymous with interweaving bodies, patterning and visual tableaux, Weir’s choreography achieved some stunning visual effects, building energy and momentum with running circles of bodies that opened out and reformed to capture the expansive colours of the music and the essence of life – a joyful, yet poignant work, complex in both design and intention.
The program finished with a work by Singapore’s most famous international choreographer, the late Goh Choo San. His Balanchinesque Fives, performed by SDT, featured precise point work, sharp lines and counterpoint movement and transitions. It rounded off a quality, inspiring evening of dance, collaboration and cultural exchange.
- STEPHANIE BURRIDGE
Tasmanian born Dr Stephanie Burridge lectures at LASALLE College of the Arts and Singapore Management University and is the author and editor of numerous publications on dance and education. She is a former artistic director of Canberra Dance Theatre.