Australasian Dance Collective celebrated their 40th anniversary with a triple bill of contemporary dance works that honoured the company’s heritage and looked to its future, showcasing the versatility and strength of the company’s artists in an outstanding display of creative talent and energy. The title completes the old adage, wedding the company’s past to its present with hopes for a long and joyful future: something old, something new, something borrowed, something Blue.
Originally founded as Expressions by Maggi Sietsma AM and her partner Abel Valls in 1984, Australasian Dance Collective has had only three (3) Artistic Directors in four decades – Sietsma, Natalie Weir, and now Amy Hollingsworth, who took the helm when the company became ADC in 2019. In a program note reflecting on the company’s 40-year history, Denise Richardson noted that ADC is justifiably proud to be Australia’s only succession-structured performing arts company led exclusively by female Artistic Directors. On opening night, all three women stood onstage together, to enthusiastic applause, and displays in the foyer showcased past performances and former artists.
The first work of the triple bill was something old: an excerpt from When Time Stops, a 2013 work choreographed by then-current Artistic Director Natalie Weir. Weir created this excerpt specifically for Blue, drawing on the original 75-minute work to reimagine the narrative in 25 minutes. ADC/Expressions alumna Riannon McLean also returned to reprise her role as The Woman, which she had co-created for the original season.
When Time Stops introduces The Woman at the moment of her death and draws on the mythological character of The Ferryman, transporting souls from one world to the next. As The Woman prepares for this final journey, initially resistant, memories rush past her in waves and she dances with past selves, lovers, and finally the ferryman himself before he rows her rhythmically away from the shore of her life. Original costume and set designer Bill Haycock collaborated on this revised version, as did original lighting designer David Walters with the lighting realised by Ben Hughes.
Weir’s choreography itself was both old and new, revisiting existing work of a style and standard that she was instrumental in setting for contemporary dance in Queensland. Tender partner work and unfurling balletic lines were beautifully executed by Company Artists Sam Hall, Lilly King, Taiga Kita-Leong, Jack Lister, Lily Potger, and Georgia Van Gils. Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra joined the dancers barefoot onstage, unconducted as always, to perform Iain Grandage’s composition.
The three works of Blue were divided by intervals, and the second piece was something new: the world premiere of Glass Teeth, commissioned from Australian choreographer Melanie Lane, explored the language and landscape of dreams. Costuming by fashion designer Gail Sorronda drew on fantasy archetypes with billowing sleeves and pointed headwear, stripped away throughout to reveal corsetry and exoskeletal designs.
UK electronic musician Clark, a frequent collaborator of Lane’s, drew from both classical and electro music to build a heart-pumping, crunching, teeth-on-edge original score. Lane, too, gave an uncanny edge to classical inspirations like the iconic Danse des petits cygnets in her choreography. Glass Teeth included an impressive sequence with a rope hairpiece and used sharp, sudden shifts and the entangling of the group’s limbs to lend a further otherworldly effect. The dancers executed extraordinary physical feats, so smoothly and with such precise synchronisation that it seemed effortless.
Lighting designed by Hughes interacted with a shifting scrim to create different impressions of the space, from a vast emptiness to striking silhouettes of the dancers cast against a luridly coloured, changing backdrop, like a Pop Art painting brought to life. Body isolations in complete synchronicity and rolling, flickering blackouts were also key to the visual impact of Glass Teeth.
Blue concluded with something borrowed: an excerpt of Hofesh Shechter’s In your rooms. Current ADC Artistic Director Amy Hollingsworth was part of the original cast for this piece in its 2007 iteration. In your rooms depicted moments and motions from a life with pulsing, frenetic energy to a high-intensity score, which Shechter also devised. Interiority was translated into frantic, wild choreographic sequences, industrial in their intensity.
Lighting designed by Lee Curran and realised by Hughes was integral, with changing spotlights offering glimpses of couples, groups, and individuals in motion. Always fading in or out just a beat before the end of a movement, the lighting design left the energy of each gesture unfinished, suspended in the air.
Guest artist Sam Coren, who also staged the work, and ADC Pre-Professional Program students Hayley Corderoy and Te Atawhai Kaa joined the six ADC Company Artists members for In your rooms. The Company Artists remained sharp and unwavering even after three highly demanding pieces of work, an astonishing display of stamina and commitment.
Blue returned to the bodily storytelling and emotional elicitation of unaugmented contemporary dance, a deviation from the technologically collaborative and genre-blending work that has characterised Hollingsworth’s tenure as Artistic Director so far. In this celebration of their 40-year history, Australasian Dance Collective reinforced its commitment to excellence in the art form, building mindfully on existing foundations and full of fresh, explosive energy as it looks to the future.
Blue was performed at the QPAC Playhouse Theatre from 14-17 May 2025
For further information, visit the Australasian Dance Collective website
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