A few years ago, I was visiting New York, spending time in art galleries during the day, seeing indie bands play in dark basements at night, and partying late into the small hours at legendary clubs like the Splash and XL. It was the dead of winter, but we lined up in blizzards to score cheap last-minute tickets to Broadway shows, and made every moment of our time in the Big Apple count.
Perusing listings of events taking place during our two weeks in Manhattan, we discovered that pioneering DJ John Morales was playing alongside disco enthusiast Danny Krivit on a Sunday afternoon. We queued in the blistering cold to get into the party, but once the doors opened we found ourselves in disco heaven.
The doors opened at 3pm, and the dancefloor was filled within sixty seconds. The crowd spanned all ages, and you felt that many of them might once have been at Studio 54, Danceteria, or the Funhouse in years gone by. Now we were together on the dancefloor at Santos House Party in Tribeca. It was a space for expression, fashion, and connection. As Madonna famously put it, “only when I’m dancing can I feel this free.”
I was reminded of that feeling while standing on a Friday night in the bare bones of the Liberty Theatre – a former cinema stripped back to its rafters. Here was another dancefloor filled with people of all ages on their feet, moving, sharing, and living life to the full. This was not a disco, however – it was a contemporary dance performance.
Co3, Western Australia’s exemplary contemporary dance company, challenged four choreographers to each create an eight-minute work presented throughout the evening.
In the vast space, behind the decks Mowgli plays a killer soundtrack, the bar serves drinks, and people mill around. There is a nervous anticipation about what is about to happen. Dancers begin moving to the music, and audience members join in. Some people casually shuffle back and forth, while others have moves to show off.
Suddenly, a change in lighting and sound draws our attention to bleachers at one end of the room, where a group of dancers emerge from underneath. This is On & On, a creation from Laura Boynes: majestic, intricate and captivating, and over almost as quickly as it begins. The dancefloor returns, and more people start to embrace the atmosphere. This is a party.
A dolphin appears slightly to my left. In the distance, I can see a rabbit. The second part of the show is underway. The audience moves to make space for the different creatures that have appeared among us. This is Never Lonely Now, a work from the brilliant Sam Coren that, through its use of masks, feels foreboding and filled with drama.
After another break for audience dancing, a third short work emerges, Danceagoge from May Greenberg. Because you are not fixed in a chair in an auditorium, you can move with the work and explore it from all sides. There is no front of stage here. We are in the work. We are part of the work.
Soon everybody in the room is up and dancing. One of the dancers leads a follow-me session, with everyone shadowing his moves. The final work of the evening, Make//Believe, comes from Shaun Johnson. It is hilarious, as though the cast of Game of Thrones has spilled into a club for a full-throttle assault on the senses.
On the night I attended, Dr Renee Newman from Edith Cowan University hosted a Q and A session with Artistic Director Raewyn Hill and three of the choreographers behind the different works.
They spoke about how the limitations of an eight-minute performance forced them to commit to clear ideas about what they wanted to communicate, and it was intriguing to hear how each of them approached their creative process.
Laura Boynes shared that she entered the rehearsal room with around 80 percent of her piece planned, while the rest was developed in collaboration with the dancers. Shaun Johnson revealed that his piece was created entirely during the five-day rehearsal process, while Sam Coren noted that his work underwent significant last-minute adjustments when clearance could not be obtained for the music he had originally choreographed to. Impressively composer Louis Fere-Harvey created a brand new piece at the last minute.
This experience was a thrill, dance is for everybody, and over four microworks we explored drama, comedy, despair and a plethora of emotions – all while standing in the middle of a party. This show was a night at the theatre which was not unlike a night in at a club, as the performances sprouted from unexpected directions, I was reminded off all the times performance artist Strykermeyer has appeared in an odd corner of Connections doing something odd but truly brilliant.
This engaging and magical night was brought to life by dancers Francesca Fenton, Storm Helmore, Luther Wilson, Zachary Wilson, Luci Young and Sophie Sibbons, alongside street crew Logan Ringshaw, Angelina Boladeras and Deco Zymm. With gender-queer costumes from Emma Fishwick and Raewyn Hill, and lighting from Mark Haslam.
IN.RESIDENCE: GATHERING.2 will have it’s final outing this weekend with the dancefloor filling up on Friday and Saturday night. For the final shows DJ Adeboii will create the soundscape. Tickets are on sale now.
