Freestyling at last! Brisbane Festival has got the moves!
Sep 25, 2025, updated Sep 25, 2025
There were plenty of “oohs” and “aahs” in the audience for opening night of Elements of Freestyle at Brisbane Powerhouse.
A jaw-dropping hybrid of contemporary dance and urban arts such as breakdancing, inline skating, skateboarding and BMX tricks, this show is a welcome addition to the Brisbane Festival line-up and has much more broad appeal than some might expect.
Directed by Marco Gerris (So You Think You Can Dance?) and performed by The Netherlands’ ISH Dance Collective, the show features 10 performers from various disciplines, who keep the audience transfixed from their first number where they use skateboard ramps as a backdrop to parkour-style moves.
The accompaniment is cool, laid-back music with voiceover from people talking about what dance means to them. It’s an effective and evocative scene-setter.
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The action kicks into a higher gear from then on and keeps the adrenaline pumping, both on and off the stage. The audience reactions turn to shrieks of awe and occasional anxiety as the fusion of disciplines sees some of the performers hurling themselves into the air and somersaulting over each other while on skateboards.
The thrills are turned up when the skateboarders and inline skaters (Pim Wouters, Sven Boekhurst, Jelle Briggeman) flip themselves up from the ramps and briefly balance on a rail high above the stage.
it truly is a glorious hybrid of genres, styles and disciplines
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A valuable ingredient of the experience is the stunning music, with recorded material combining with live violin (Vera van der Bie) and cello (Annie Tangberg). The two musicians have a few numbers where they rock it out with Jimmy Page-style licks (he, of course, being the legendary lead guitarist from Led Zeppelin).
A big hit of the show is Juan Niebles Noriega doing masterful routines on a small BMX bike that seem to defy gravity and sometimes even belief. When done to some stunning street beats-tango fusion music, it takes on an unexpected elegance.
Elsewhere, Michael Van Beek shows incredible skill with his freestyle basketball routines, making juggling four basketballs somehow seem simple with his smooth moves.
Other performers include free runners Liziano Ostiana and Siebe van de Spijker, and Matilde Tommasini, the sole female in the crew, who impressed with her breakdance and acrobatics, while Dietrich Pott and Arnold Put are also masters of the breakdancing art.
Outgoing Brisbane Festival artistic director Louise Bezzina worked hard for a few years to bring Elements of Freestyle to the festival, so it’s a wonderful gift for her and audiences that her efforts have come to fruition.
Elements of Freestyle continues until September 27, and judging by the reaction of the rapt patrons of all ages on opening night, it deserves to have a full house for its short run. It would be a mistake to think that it’s just for fans of urban arts. It truly is a glorious hybrid of genres, styles and disciplines.
Elements of Freestyle continues at Brisbane Powerhouse until September 27.