The performance that marked the end of the Sunshine Coast Dance Society's inaugural dance residency program at the Heritage Playhouse was a hot one. Of course, one of the reasons for the heat was because the new air conditioning had broken down, and the full house of rapt audience sweated freely into the warm July 31 evening. But it would have sizzled anyway.
The program was challenging and intense, particularly guest artist and instructor Andrea Nann's choreographed piece Ink. The abstract piece, based on Nann's Asian heritage, demanded the full capabilities of three dynamic dancers: Nann performed solo in two sections, while a combination of Alison Denham and Kate Holden performed together in a lengthy middle section. It was at times twitchy, at times erotic. It gave the audience a thrill to know these women were capable of this standard of performance. The only flaw in the well-constructed show was the taped conversation from Chinese ink artist Wayne Ngan who sounded as if he was speaking from underwater into a cheap answering machine. It was difficult to hear his words and yet essential to understanding Nann's creative inspiration. Denham performed solo in her own choreographed dance, Swim, adding a video backdrop to the mix. The dynamics of the act of swimming complemented her athleticism and ease of movement. Kate Holden's Flotsam and Jetsam was also a physically demanding piece that she achieved with grace and speed. The show closed with a fine performance from the KaliJo-sponsored Gravity Works, pre-professional dance students who had developed their own performance piece during ten hours of intense rehearsal. The women: Katherine Denham, Jamesy Patrick, Jillian McPhee-Cytko, Coreesa Thomson, Lynndsey Terre, Austin Paterson and Johanna Dalgleish, also played on the concept of ink and writing to deliver a surreal, fluid dance with accompanying text.
