Young companies
with talent should be encouraged and despite working with a fairly simple
and clichéd story line, there were some good performances from
this group of technically skilled young dancers. However, as Enter
#1773 progressed, their inexperience as performers showed and they
were unable to delve deep into the essence of the string of characters
and situations that they portrayed and bring them to life.
The narrative revolved around a series of people that entered through
a door numbered 1773. These included a spinster, a couple where the
man is dominant in the domestic relationship, a geek and yuppies obsessed
with their careers. The set included desks and swivel chairs, a sofa
that the dancers used effectively and a table that doubled as a desk
and an ironing board. The music was not credited in the programme but
much of it was by Astor Piazzolla, whose music has unfortunately been
used relentlessly by contemporary dance companies and seems to be an
"easy" option for many choreographers. It did not seem appropriate
for the storyline of this choreography and did not aid the performers
in developing their roles.
The narrative of Enter #1773 was based entirely on these characters
and in this context, each dancer needed to look for examples, and within
themselves, to build their interpretations. From the beginning, however,
when the dancers mimed actions such as working on a keyboard, through
to a repeat of this scene at the end, they remained tentative in their
acting and dancing of these roles. It is difficult to develop movement
vocabulary that gives insight into character, and the choreographer
relied on the dancers to bring out nuances to develop the people they
were playing (for example, the choreography did not distinguish them
in terms of their roles, ages and gender). In the end, however, these
details were still missing. Simply dancing the steps was not enough.
The piece really needed some strong direction to help the dancers believe
that such characters really did exist and were interesting, and fun
to explore through dance. As it stood, it was completely bogged down
by the plot.
For instance, the spinster broke too freely into flowing movement and
the guy on the couch telling his wife to do more ironing was not believable,
(thank goodness!). While the scene offered the chance to see some lyrical
dancing and strong movement from dancer-choreographer Liz Wong, the
frustration and anger of this character was a chance to show some strong
emotion - this did not come across. The bossy woman at the keyboard
with her handphone, Verity Jacobson, danced well with marvellous articulation
of her legs and feet but the mimed phone conversations and checking
of folders were done far too quickly to be believable.
Wong understands the craft of dance-making and moved the dancers through
competent, rather than original and creative, phrases of dance; with
time she has the potential to find her own choreographic voice. Overall,
the dance technique was strong, particularly from guests such as Australian
dancer Jacobson and Ding Qirui from China. It would have been interesting
to watch this group perform in a different scenario that gave them the
space to be themselves and use their dance ability freely. The restrictive
plot meant that the performance relied more on their acting skills than
their talent for contemporary dance movement. |
"As Enter #1773 progressed, their inexperience as performers
showed and they were unable to delve deep into the essence of the string
of characters and situations that they portrayed and bring them to life."
Credits
Concept and choreography:
Liz Fong
Lighting designer: Andy Lim
Dancers: Verity Jacobson, Ding Qirui, Goh Chee Seng, Kenneth Tan and
Viv Phua
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