Interplay - The Australian Ballet

Interplay - The Australian Ballet
Sydney Opera House, Nov 08 By Deborah Searle Interplay was a unique ballet, born out of the collaboration of composer and choreographer. Each work was a new dance creation to a new musical score, especially created for the program. The ballet brought together three renowned Australian composers with three talented and innovative choreographers. After seeing snippets of the work in rehearsal when visiting The Australian Ballet’s Melbourne studios, I was excited to see the final product. The first work, Night Path, choreographed by Resident Choreographer Stephen Baynes left me a little cold. Baynes wished to portray darkness and how it alters our surroundings and senses. As always the dancers were brilliant and there were moments of eerie calmness, portraying Bayne’s vision for the work, however the choreography seemed a little outdated, and more like the contemporary ballet work we enjoyed in the 90’s. The lighting, music and use of silver tree branches gave us a feeling of the night and transported us into a dreamy, timeless world. I enjoyed this. However, the choreographic movement just didn’t seem to be fresh and innovative. There were moments of engaging choreography and the use of material for the set was beautiful, but my breath wasn’t taken away. Semele choreographed by Matjash Mrozewki, independent Canadian choreographer, was powerful and well presented. The work only featured three dancers, Danielle Rowe, Adam Bull and Amber Scott, but the lack of cast did not cause a lack of creativity. The three dancers presented the Greek myth, love circle of Semele. The god Jupiter (Ball) falls in love with a mortal,Semele (Scott) to his jealous wife Juno’s (Rowe) disgust. It is a tale of revenge, passion, deception and ultimately death, as Semele perishes when Jupiter is forced to show his true form as a god. I was captivated by the story, simple set and stylized moves of the dancers. At one point a large fan blew as Bull and Scott performed intricate and intimate lifts and floor work, blowing the red robe they shared into gorgeous shapes, representing the fire and passion of their romance. This was mesmerizing.
	Laura Tong, The Night Path Photo: Jeff Busby

	Robert Curran & Juliet Burnett, Semele Photo Jeff Busby

	The Possibilty Space Photo Jeff Busby

Bull and Rowe danced with minimal body contact to represent the lovelessness of their character’s relationship, showing off their individual strengths. The dancers, particularly Danielle Rowe, were brilliant. She emits an amazing stage presence and is a rising star of Australian dance. I was impressed with Mrozweki’s work and I am compelled to see more.

The last work of the night, was a fantastic grand finale for Interplay. The Possibility Space by Nicolo Fonte of New York was dynamic and intense. The dancers dressed in electric blue, sent their own electricity into the audience. Portraying ‘the journey’, Fonte said “ I took the idea of the journey and interpreted it as an abstract manifestation of our shared human longing for transformation – and the crucial mental journey that precedes any physical one.” The Possibility Space is the imaginative state where the journey takes place. The dancers threw off the pointe shoes for this piece and showed us new and modern movement, real to the term ‘contemporary’. I was excited by the innovation of the movement and I felt that the dancers were indeed in the space we create out of the chaos of a million thoughts. Metallic reflective walls and stark fluorescent lighting made us feel as though the dancers were in a laboratory, experimenting with their thoughts and movement. The dancers showed versatility and soul. I thoroughly enjoyed The Possibility Space and didn’t want it to end.

Interplay was well programmed, as I felt that it grew in quality and strength as the evening progressed, ending with an exceptional ballet performed by the company’s outstanding dancers. I loved the concept of combining new movement with new music, and the endless creativity that can and did abound.