Students fully engaged
Ann HuntGRADUATING students from the School’s classical ballet and contemporary dance streams are showcased to laudatory effect in this most enjoyable programme.
Napoli Divertissements (1842) was stylishly interpreted and the students coped well with the demands of August Bournonville’s elegant choreography. Jason Carter impressed.
Australian choreographer, Lina Limosani’s vision of the world is one of nightmare. In Whispers From Pandora’s Box the dancers resemble inmates from an insane asylum. The costumes (Donna Jefferis) of red rompers and white bloodstained shirts, with their hint at Elizabethan ruffs, imply this nightmare has been going on for a long time and is not getting any better. Throats are cut, bodies are disembowelled. The weak get weaker and the tough get tougher. Not an optimistic work, but an intense and riveting one. Limosani could not have asked for a more committed cast, all of whom were stunning.
Recent Bedroom, (choreography Maria Dabrowska and dancers,) held strong performances by all three dancers and the chairs, but sadly had little new to say.
Excerpts from George Balanchine’s sparkling Emeralds was fluently danced by all, but especially by Laura Jones. This elegant dancer has a lovely unforced technique and personality that should take her far.
Sum, (choreography, Ross McCormack with collaboration from the dancers’) is an excellent ensemble piece that grows in power as it progresses. Eden Mulholland mixed the rhythmic music by Fairuz. James Pham and Matthew Roffe stood out in a strong cast.
Against a parfait-coloured background, master choreographer Paul Taylor’s effervescent Company B made a great finale. This bittersweet work danced to songs sung by the Andrews Sisters, captured all the heartbreak and desperate joy of the WWII years. Special mention to Du Yan Hao, Jonathan Selvadurai, Daniel McCarroll and Rebekha Duncan. But all the dancers, (coached by Richard Chen See,) excelled themselves in fully engaged, professional performances.









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