Too Soon To Tell

http://www.sydneyartsguide.com/View-Review.asp?ReviewID=808

TOO SOON TO TELL is the first production by the newly formed Austinmer Dance Theatre (ADT) led by Michelle Forte. This contemporary based company consists of ten classical ballet trained dancers (all female) and a musician all aged between 17-25. ADT gives serious young dancers an opportunity to pursue their love of dance at a professional level whilst continuing their secondary and tertiary education before embarking on a full-time dance career.

The four short works interspersed with song solos by Chloe Harrison make a very exciting Fringe performance. Each work has a cast of about five to seven dancers and are plotless, contemporary dance pieces, emphasizing mood rather than narrative and mostly performed barefoot. The tiny space of the Newtown Theatre stage was stretched to its limits. Technically the dancing was fabulous, strong and very centered with glorious feet.

DON’T LOOK BACK opened the show. The cast were in blue or dusty pink floral dresses with ruffled necklines. There was exuberant energy, a fluid sense of movement and a wonderful sense of sculptural line with also an unusual use of backbends. Forte seems to favour a very strong, centered pelvis and a magnificently long, held back combined with some great jumps. Were the cast meant to be sirens or mermaids ?

AGGRAVATED DISRUPTION with the cast all in black costumes had an angry, sci-fi futuristic feel about it . An explosive ticking time bomb the cast at times were like a mad robotic machine, with repeated and/or echoed phrases of movement to the relentless, pounding, hypnotic score. Here however I really noticed that Forte's choreography was sometimes repetitive ( was it meant to be?) and particularly in this work the dancers seemed squashed and restricted by the small stage space.

STOLEN MEMORIES also choreographed by Forte, starts off seemingly with the atmosphere of children in a playground but then becomes more eerie, lyrical and serious - swirling and yearning with the dancers in their soft floral dresses - yet there is also an ominous drifting away of the characters. Are they in an asylum? Is it the nightmare period of the 1930's - 40's and World War 11? Are they 'the disappeared’?'  At times I was reminded of MacMillan's LAS HERMANAS and THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS' with a dash of Meryl Tankard. An edgy twitchiness was combined with a deep Graham ply and some circular 'character' or folk dancing. A couple of tiny solos and fabulous pas de deux were included.

ARMY OF YOU - with the cast in green kilts, black shoes and white tops and socks, looked at groups of mad sports fans and team spirit. Aggressive and exuberant it demanded lots of fleet footwork and circular, angular, repeated phrases of movement. In one section speech is very important as the cast vociferously follow a maddeningly exciting football match with various repeated sounds and phrases.

A most impressive premiere program and I look forward to seeing more from this company.

Austinmer Dance Theatre's production of TOO SOON TO TELL, running at just under an hour, played the Newtown theatre corner King and Bray street, Newtown between the 23rd September and the 2nd October, 2011

(c) Lynne Lancaster

3rd October, 2011