Australasian Dance Collective is getting the band back together – to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary.
Blue, a triple bill that honours the past, embraces the present and looks boldly to the future, will be presented with QPAC, as part of its own 40th celebratory year.
Blue celebrates the marriage between legacy and the future of ADC with a triple bill showcasing something old, something new and something borrowed, in the QPAC Playhouse, May 14 to 17.
ADC artistic director and CEO Amy Hollingsworth says all three of the company’s artistic directors over four decades will be honoured in the show and will be in attendance.
“Natalie Weir will be there and so will Maggi Sietsma, who founded the company and is coming back from France to attend,” Hollingsworth says.
“It’s incredibly special to have them come and join us to celebrate 40 years.” (The company was originally known as Expressions Dance Company before a name change a few years ago.)
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Natalie Weir’s iconic When Time Stops will return to the QPAC stage as the first work in the triple bill, representing “something old”.
“Capturing the fragility and beauty of life’s pivotal moments, audiences will no doubt be thrilled to once again experience this special work, featuring her signature choreography set to a soul-stirring score by Iain Grandage,” Hollingsworth says.
“We are also delighted that this excerpt of When Time Stops will be accompanied live by Camerata – Queensland’s Chamber Orchestra, as it was so magnificently in its original season. This performance by Camerata has been enabled by Arts Queensland and QPAC and we are deeply grateful. Their enduring support has been a backbone of strength for this company’s artistic vision for 40 years.”
ADC’s dancers will be joined by original cast member Riannon McLean in a guest appearance marking her much-anticipated return to the stage with the company for the first time in 12 years.
Commissioned to create “something new” for Blue, leading Australian/Javanese choreographer Melanie Lane will bring her blend of physicality and emotional nuance to a world premiere that explores the slippery realm of dream thought.
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Lane’s Glass Teeth draws on an ancient belief of dreaming as a supernatural means of divine intervention, dancing through the uncanny nightmares and fantasies that we as humans are transported to when we sleep.
“Continuing the collective’s commitment to artistic collaboration, we are delighted to announce that acclaimed Brisbane fashion icon Gail Sorronda will design the costumes for Glass Teeth, as she did for Natalie Weir’s The Dinner Party in 2019,” says Hollingsworth.
‘This piece is raw and powerful, with a lot of intensity’
Global superstar Hofesh Shechter’s seminal work In your rooms will be the finale and the “something borrowed” for Blue. Hollingsworth was in the original cast in London, not long after she left Rambert, one of the world’s most famous contemporary dance companies.
“This piece is raw and powerful, with a lot of intensity,” she says. “There’s tension and energy that can be unsettling around the darker and more complex side of life.”
Hollingsworth says it is very special to have permission from Schechter to feature this work as Shechter is recognised as one of the most exciting contemporary choreographers today, creating award-winning works for his company and for the likes of The Royal Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and Paris Opera Ballet.
In a nod to the company’s remarkable history of all-female artistic directors, ADC’s celebratory program will extend to the Playhouse foyer with imagery and footage paying homage to its visionary founder Maggi Sietsma.
“There will be a lot of beautiful imagery representing 40 years and there will also be something special inside the auditorium – a birthday surprise,” Hollingsworth says.
State Minister for the Arts John-Paul Langbroek congratulated ADC on 40 years of delighting, inspiring and challenging audiences.
“ADC’s 40th anniversary celebration is a chance to reflect on where the company has come from, while looking towards its exciting future,” says Langbroek.
“The (State) Government is proud to back this world-class Brisbane-based dance company and invest in its presentation of Blue, to enable Camerata to once again perform live within When Time Stops.”
Blue, Australasian Dance Collective’s 40th anniversary season, presented in association with QPAC, Playhouse, QPAC, May 14 to 17.