Judith Wright Centre for Performing Arts, March
Expressions Dance Company (EDC) and Cathy Sharp Dance Ensemble (CSDE) from Basel, Switzerland, are old friends. They first worked together in 2001 when Maggie Sietsma headed EDC, in a cultural exchange that culminated here in a triple bill of Sietsma’s Behind the Wall, with two works danced by CSDE – Lunula (choreographed by Cathy Sharp) and Nicolo Fonte’s Sometime Salvation.
This time both companies joined forces to create the one work. The subject matter was the changing art of communication, and they came at it in different directions, while finding common ground in short middle and concluding sequences where both companies shared the stage.
Sharp’s piece begins the work and focuses on the concrete mechanisms of communication: the sensual act of writing with pen and paper in contrast to what she sees as the more disconnected interaction of the digital age.
A visually striking beginning promises much as a huge sheet of white paper, spread out on the stage floor, pulsates with the moving body of dancer Misato Inoue underneath it. Inoue finally breaks through head first, and the paper becomes an elegant, sculptured white gown, wrapping seductively around her naked torso as she drifts off stage.
Unfortunately, the following vignettes of solos and duets connect with the opening neither literally nor metaphorically. They are also visually less striking, although the minimal setting is ripe with symbolism: a television screen downstage left showing a visual representation of the music, and a scroll-like white drop unfurling just off centre stage, projecting at different times bleeding ink, Japanese calligraphy and other written symbols. A small box of hand-written letters is a focal point in a couple of the solos, as the letters are sorted, packed and unpacked.
Eoin Mac Donncha is technically strong in a very athletic but fluid solo, although it rather drifts to its conclusion, while an amusing duet about poor mobile reception is inventive and seamlessly introduces spoken text. Not surprisingly, given the subject matter, text, spoken and written, is used by Sharp throughout.
Some of Sharp’s movement however, particularly in the duets, seems laboured and self-conscious, while the use of eight different composers for the half hour piece fragments rather than unites.
In the second half of the work, Weir concentrates on the human element in communication, or the effects of miscommunication. Again the construct is of solos and duets, although the use of only two composers (Max Richter and Philip Glass) is more cohesive.
All EDC dancers show individual strengths, with Elise May, in a particularly clever and quirky sequence, unpacking the small suitcase of letters as much with her feet as her hands.
Two quite riveting duets with Riannon McLean and Jack Ziesing form the centrepiece of this section: the first a daring expression of love as McLean launches herself fearlessly at Ziesing, who never falters as he catches her, wrapped each time in a different position around his body; the second a poignant, mesmerising duet, showing a sensitivity and definite growth in the chemistry of their partnership.
Creating a cohesive whole from two distinct groups of contemporary dancers can be tricky, especially when the choreographic style driving each is so dissimilar. Here the marriage of the two sections is let down by its rather lumpy segue from one to the other and an underdeveloped ending. Undoubtedly more time together for the two companies would ameliorate such issues.
Ultimately, however, collaborations like these are enriching for both artists and audiences and are to be applauded. Would that logistics and funding allowed for more of them.
– DENISE RICHARDSON