Dance / “Hot to Trot 2021”, directed by Ruth Osborne for QL2 Dance. At Gorman House Arts Centre, December 18-19. Reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

EACH year QL2 Dance provides young aspiring choreographers with the opportunity to test their talents by providing them with dancers, facilities and mentoring to produce a work for presentation before a paying audience in its annual “Hot to Trot” season.

In addition to coming up with their concept, the choreographers are also responsible for casting and rehearsing their dancers, organising costumes, props and rehearsal schedules. 

Mentored by Ruth Osborne and Steve Gow, 10 young choreographers took up the challenge this year, and between them produced an ambitious program of eight staged works and one film. In addition, most also danced in works choreographed by colleagues, adding value to their opportunity.

Magnus Meagher produced the short film that opened the program. Entitled “Naturally Urban” it followed three dancers (John Judd, Cassidy Thompson and Danny Riley) through a montage of beautifully photographed Canberra locations to the accompaniment of Yomoti’s “Cats Walking”. Perfectly timed editing and imaginative interaction between the dancers resulted in a thoroughly delightful short film.

Perspex magnifiers cleverly manipulated by five dancers (Alyse Canton, Akira Byrne, Sofie Nielsen, Mia Canton and Tara Creamer-Banks) to explore concepts of identity were an arresting aspect of Penny Amoore ambitious work “I, You, We”. Interesting music choices, clever well-executed floor work, particularly in the second section as the dancers shadowed each other, provided an engrossing and constantly interesting piece. 

Hollie Knowles and Courtney Tha combined choreographic and dancing talents for their work “Gold Beige People”. A witty critique of the world of fashion, they incorporated elements of tableau, voice-overs intoning fashion advice with detailed sound and lighting and their own excellent unison work to produce a delightfully entertaining work.

Drawing on her training in circus arts, Genevieve Rohrlach worked with three dancers (Alyse Canton, Arshiya Abmishree and Gigi Rohrlach), to produce a demanding, well-conceived exploration of control and manipulation entitled “Inhuman Habits”, which also incorporated impressive floor work. 

Sarah Long choreographed and performed a striking, introspective solo entitled “Webbed” for her exploration of human connection, which contrasted interestingly with Akira Byrne’s charmingly inventive “The Saturation” beautifully performed by Penny Amoore and Mia Canton to the music of Ezio Bosso.

Mia Canton made interesting use of red masks, unsettling music and complex movement patterns for her piece, “Preconceived Judgement”, in which four dancers (Arshiya Abmishree, Akira Byrne, Cassidy Thomson and Gigi Rohrlach), explored ideas of how people judge each other. 

Similarly, Alyse Canton also used four dancers (Sofie Nielsen, Penny Amoore, John Judd and Danny Riley) but a completely contrasting movement vocabulary to produce a dramatic work entitled “Crawl” investigating co-existence between underground insects and humans.

However the outstanding work of the evening was Danny Riley’s joyous “All Era” in which Riley, together with Cassidy Thomson and Tara Creamer-Banks danced up a storm, utilising a clever soundtrack, several dance styles, including hip-hop, swing dance and even a nod to Gene Kelly, and well-executed costume changes, to produce an exuberant, thoughtful, funny and nostalgic homage, which together with his other contributions during the evening, marks him as a young dancer/choreographer on the cusp of an exciting dance career. 

As with all “Hot to Trot” presentations, each work was supported by impressive lighting and stage management as well as opportunity for audience feedback following each performance.