CRITICS’ CHOICE
Susan Bendall (Melbourne)
Dance Australia
Highlight of the year
William Forsythe’s A Quiet Evening of Dance as part of the 2018 Melbourne Festival. A witty and intensely beautiful ode to ballet; it’s physical poetry contracts and expands meaning and movement.
An unexpected highlight was The Australian Ballet’s Giselle. The characterisations were wonderfully nuanced, bringing so much dimension and believability to the old favourite.
Most interesting Australian independent group or artist
M&T in Motion. My first exposure to this group led by former Royal Ballet dancer Mara Galeazzi and Australian Tim Podesta was their “Forte” program which comprised first rate choreographic creation with stunning dancing.
Most interesting Australian group or artist
Stephanie Lake Company. The work ranges expansively and always contains surprises, inventiveness and remarkable artists. Dancenorth. Experimental and endlessly ingenious.
Most outstanding choreography
Alice Topp for Aurum, in The Australian Ballet’s “Verve” program.
Lauren Langlois in collaboration with James Vu Anh Pham for Nether (Chunky Move’s “Next Move”). A stunning and meticulous artwork. Independent artist Victoria Chiu and Angela Liong (Arts Fission) for Fire Monkey. The work combines site specificity and live music with a grand choreographic architecture designed to be viewed from multiple perspectives.
Best new work
Common Ground, by Anouk van Dijk (Chunky Move). A beautiful, affecting and elegant use of bodies, full of effortless contrasts between feats of physical power and vulnerability and tenderness.
Liam Scarlett’s Midsummer Night’s Dream (Queensland Ballet). Pure magical delight and perfectly cast.
Nether, by Lauren Langlois (Chunky Move). aA highly polished work which builds a consistent and sustained movement vocabulary that is compressed and economical.
Most outstanding dancer
Lauren Langlois and James Vu Anh Pham in Nether. Both are outstanding dancers and together in this work they are spectacular. Kevin Jackson and Robyn Hendricks in Spartacus (Australian Ballet).
Dancer to watch
It will be interesting to follow James Vu Anh Pham as he joins acclaimed Akram Khan Company in London.
Boos!
I missed out on La Scala!
Encore please!
Australia is producing first rate, compelling dancers and choreographers. Keep it coming!
Chris Boyd (Melbourne)
The Australian
Highlight of the year
Seeing 42 (or was it 43?) dancers on the Fairfax stage in an intelligent, organic and utterly dazzling hour-long piece by Stephanie Lake. (Think Mary Wigman in a house of mirrors!) Colossus had canons galore, brilliantly executed. Officially part of Melbourne’s Fringe Festival, Colossus had the budget and resources of every other dance work in the festival combined. But it showed!
Most significant dance event
It’s transition time at Chunky Move and at the Victorian College of the Arts, with Jenny Kinder stepping down after 18 years leading the school of dance. Associate Professor Kinder is staying on “to do some things I haven’t been able to do while Head”. VCA boss Jon Cattapan promised, in August, that any changes in the school would expand and renew the current VCA Dance offering, not contract it.
[Antony Hamilton was announced new artistic director of Chunky Move just after deadline – Eds.]
“The Queensland Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was pure magical delight and perfectly cast.”
Most interesting Australian independent group or artist
Nana Biluš Abaffy is something of a lone wolf on the Melbourne indie dance scene. If anything, she’s too far ahead of the pack to be truly appreciated.
Most interesting Australian group or artist
Prue Lang. Rather than find ideas or narratives which suit her aesthetic and choreographic strengths, Lang tailors her dance making – invents a new dance vocabulary – to suit her current intellectual pursuits. Each of her works is different from the last; they’re barely recognisable as the creations of a single artist. These are admirably risky strategies from a mid-career artist. (Dancehouse) had some of the most ingenious and memorable choreography of 2018.
