Ignition 6
Australian Dance Theatre ensemble
Tues 15 Aug
Wonderland Ballroom
Season closed



An annual event - or nearly so, unless the company is so busy time cannot be found - the 'Ignition' series is an excellent showcase for the dancers and aspiring choreographers of the ADT to work on their presentation with a performance oriented outcome, coming up with a short piece of dance (or dance on film) to establish their credentials.

Billed as using 'The world's smallest stage" (a two square metre plinth) added spice, but unfortunately sightlines were somewhat impaired in the cabaret setting.

Nine pieces made up the evening's programme, two of which were films. Generally speaking, a film doesn't make as much of a statement as a live dance performance which is happening directly in front of you; consequently a filmed version must work a great deal harder to have a similar impact. It can be effective - and a necessity - if it requires the process for its setting or for a device such as time compression; but as a different media there should be alternatives available.

Michael Carter's 'Intimate/dation' fell into this category, I'm afraid, being a pale substitute for real dance in front of an audience. I was able to make more of Paul Zivkovich' 'Then Remember', but it seemed out of place.

Opening with Xiao-Xuan Yang's 'F-Lash', the evening got off to a good start. The simple ideas are often the best, and Yang's interpretation of traffic light colours (red, yellow, green) as inspiration and identifiers for emotions (anger, anxiety, joy) was a wonderful connection. Needless to say, full use of the alarmingly small stage space was made.

It's fair to say that the two pieces which made the most impact with me were Larissa McGowan's 'Slack' and Lina Limosani's 'The Penny Drops'(above); both were well realised and showed skill in enlarging the performance space with a vertical dimension which was not apparent in some of the other pieces.

Sam Haren's 'The Game Is Not Over' was an interesting idea: representing two AFL footballers, one wearing a Crows jersey and the other a Port Power jersey, in mock combat. Haren made good use of the vertical dimension, too, having his 'players' stretching for the football. Behind them flashed a screen with slogans which seemed designed to reinforce undergraduate stereotypes of a homo-erotic nature. Why, I can't say. The intended point, I know not. Whilst the first 20 seconds was attention grabbing, the next four or five minutes proved to be more of the same; a clear case of 'good idea, but where next?'

It seemed to sum up the evening for me; some good ideas, but where next? I'll be on the lookout for a couple of these names in the choreographer's credits.

Alex Wheaton