LINK Dance Company: Moving Object

LINK Dance Company: Moving Object -
Geoff Gibbs Theatre, 22 May -

Prior to heading off to Europe for workshops, secondments, residencies and performances in France and the Netherlands, WAAPA’s postgraduate dance group LINK presented "Moving Object", a program of three new contemporary dance works.

Japan-based choreographer Alessio Silvestrin, who has choreographed for Béjart Ballet, Ballet de l’Opéra National de Lyon and Ballet Frankfurt, joined two emerging local choreographers and WAAPA 2000 graduates Rachel Ogle and Kynan Hughes in creating works. All were performed by the ten LINK dancers: Penelope Dolling, Annabelle Lefebvre, André Franck Bauer, Emma Harrison, Megan Exton, Mercie Taylor, Joel Small, Anna Kallstrom, Katy Geertsen and Louise Henshall with ex LINK dancer Ella-Rose Trew appearing in Ogle’s piece.

Ogle’s We Are Made of Stardust comes with extensive program notes describing the work as an exploration of our relationship to the cosmos. It is performed to an ultra-minimalist soundscape with the dancers dressed in dark, loose clothing. Working in pairs, trios and groups the dancers tumble, roll and run in orbs of light; a section with mesmeric side-lit angular arm movements, and a well-devised diagonal procession are highlights. Some scenes seemed under lit, making it difficult to appreciate the structure and intention of the choreography.
           
Silvestrin’s stunning Zodiac Dialogues set to Stockhausen’s Tierkreis features Silvestrin’s own drawings of coloured, patterned images, varied for each of the twelve zodiac signs, which are projected onto a front scrim. His inventive choreographic style embraces the strengths of the dancers (clad in grey pants and singlets), who are seen through the patterned images, appearing in different groupings for each sign and forming distinctive shapes, with their limbs and bodies replicating the patterns in movement. Each of the twelve sections ends in a beautiful, clearly illuminated still pose.

Hughes’s The Opposite is True to a mixed soundtrack of Zee Avi, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Murcof and The National, explores communication, interaction and group dynamics in an interesting work that could benefit from further development. As the audience files back after interval, two dancers in casual street clothes are already set on the open stage exchanging surreptitious glances in a strong opening section. As the others enter, they scrutinise each other, spar and socialise, dancing solos, duos, trios and together, revealing the complexity of their relationships in rhythmic, quirky and energetic movement.

Throughout the well-balanced program, Annabelle Lefebvre and Joel Small (both pictured above) were standouts but all the dancers performed with focus, intensity and professionalism.

- Margaret Mercer