Vertical Shadows Dance Company: The White Prince

Vertical Shadows Dance Company: The White Prince -
Artshouse, Meat Market, 17 May -

Vertical Shadows Dance Company is an independent company that has been running since 2008 under the direction of Stephen Agisilaou. It acts to both present new work and create employment opportunities for creative talent.  Since its inception, Vertical Shadows has staged eight productions. The White Prince is its latest and, while being very ambitious, it is also a problematic work.

For this venture, Agisilaou has recruited some significant talent. Former Australian Ballet dancers, Marc Cassidy and Damien Welch are joined by Teagan Lowe and young dancers Riley Fitzgerald and Joshua Hunt. Incorporating such a diverse age cohort with only five dancers was a wonderful feat - they were all good - technically and interpretively.

Other positives in the production were the maintenance and management of its slowly unfolding pace.  An introverted and often ritualistic movement style is sustained through much of the work. A section of silhouetted animation changes the pace and is quite successful in presenting a kind of self-enclosed narrative episode in which two versions of the prince adventure through a series of trials and adversities.  However, the contrasting visual language of this does not really 'talk' to the rest of the production.

The Meat Market is a space that imposes itself on a work and has its own presence.  It has to be considered as a major player in the final outcome.  It felt as if the site had not been sufficiently considered.  The audience was situated too remotely from the dancers so that, although the venue is a non-traditional space, we were forced into very conventional proximity with the work.  Compounding this is a foregrounding of sound and lighting which both act to make the dance itself feel even smaller and more remote.  

The problems of this production are not with the dancing or the movement vocabulary. Design and editing are significant flaws. Although the set design is atmospheric, it is difficult to grasp what kind of imagined landscape we are being invited into. The work creates narrative expectation but never delivers a coherent whole. It feels conceptually unripe.  

Significant editing, dramaturgical input and a consistent 'look' across the production, especially in terms of costuming, were all lacking.  Costuming seemed confused and without context.  The choice to dress the adult male dancers in jumpers and shorts said nothing to me about their life-stage, status, emotional or psychological states. Similarly one of the costumes for the adolescent male dancer seemed age-inappropriate.

Agisilaou puts himself up for scrutiny time and time again and his work has become increasingly ambitious and complex.  In this he is contributing significantly to the cultural capital of Melbourne's arts community.  Although great energy and dedication are evident in The White Prince, however, it lacks the concision and clarity needed for a fully realised work.

- Susan Bendall