Dance Nation
\nby Clare Barron
\nState Theatre Company South Australia and Belvoir
\nIn association with Adelaide Festival.
\nScott Theatre, University of Adelaide.
\nFebruary 25. Tickets $ 39 – $ 79. Bookings adelaidefestival.com.au.
\nUntil March 7.
\nBelvoir season from March 14.<\/p>\n
Shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize in 2019, Dance Nation<\/em> is a funny, ferocious and closely-observed study of a group of pre-teen girls (and one boy) in a dance troupe competing in a series of play-offs to reach national prominence.<\/p>\n Writer Clare Barron explores, challenges and sometimes openly satirizes ideas of competition and excellence, confidence and self-esteem, motivation and single-mindedness. The world of dance is in a spin and the experience for this disparate group of adolescents is turbulent, painful, and contradictory. It is also sisterly, illuminating and a glimpse of their futures to come.<\/p>\n Casting a diverse group of older actors to play the dancers, Barron says : \u201cThink of it as a ghost play, the actors\u2019 older bodies are haunting these 13 year olds. We are getting to see who they grow up to be\u2026At times we should be fully in 13 year old land with all its ridiculousness, pain and pleasure. And at other times we should be palpably aware of the actors\u2019 real ages.\u201d<\/p>\n Director Imara Savage has admirably brought this intense, dramatically unconventional script together with a terrific cast and creative team. From the madcap sailors\u2019 dance in the opening scene (which leaves one of the dancers on the floor with a comically gory leg wound) to the scenes of teenage sexual curiosity, peer insecurity, parental inquisition and rage against the nascent beginnings of gender stereotyping, this production captures the play\u2019s mercurial intelligence and energy.<\/p>\n Jonathan Oxlade\u2019s set \u2013 essentially a dance rehearsal space surrounded by perspex mirrors and bright red surfaces, vibrantly lit in neon and strobe by Alexander Berlage – brings the action close and confronting. Oxlade\u2019s favourite Seventies costumes are zany and endearing and choreographer Laurisa McGowan\u2019s \u201cacro-lyrical\u201d World On Fire<\/em>, a dance tribute to Mohandas Gandhi, is hilarious, complete with synth fanfares from composer Luke Smiles.<\/p>\n The performances are excellent. Chika Ikogwe and Yvette Lee\u2019s portrayal of the rival dancers Zuzu and Amina captures the paradox of the star system. Tara Morice\u2019s Sofia is bold in her sexual precocity and mortified by her menstruation. Elena Carapetis is memorable as a chorus of Moms egging their children on.<\/p>\n Tim Overton is spot-on as Luke, the beta male, and Mitchell Butel, in his first performance since becoming Artistic Director at State, is the martinet director, Dance Teacher Pat, a shrewdly comic Bob Fosse parody of the manipulative egoist playing favourites.<\/p>\n As the untalented Maeve, Rebecca Massey is key to the play\u2019s random exploration of the vortex of unconscious life and sense of the cosmic, and Amber McMahon is outstanding as Ashlee, whose wolvish monologue – about her concealed, interior sense of power and agency – is a rallying call to arms.<\/p>\n \u201cThe energetic tango of youth, one step at a time\u201d, The Australian<\/em>, February 27, 2020. p.15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dance Nation by Clare Barron State Theatre Company South Australia and Belvoir In association with Adelaide Festival. Scott Theatre, University of Adelaide. February 25. Tickets $ 39 – $ 79. Bookings adelaidefestival.com.au. Until March 7. Belvoir season from March 14. Shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize in 2019, Dance Nation is a funny, ferocious and closely-observed study of a group of pre-teen girls (and one boy) in a dance troupe competing in a series of play-offs to reach national prominence. Writer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,5,11,14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-40","category-archive","category-festival","category-state-theatre-company","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3125,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3124\/revisions\/3125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}