Certainly a different type of show when you walk into the alley laneway next to the Arnold Street Studio to see a performance by three ultra-talented dancers and one super talented choreographer behind the vision ‘F5’ by ‘UNLID’ last weekend. This Premiere follows the company’s inaugural tour to Singapore in 2024 with Part I which I had read about, so I’m excited to see how this performance unfolds.
USA born Jennifer Fleenor-O’Brien welcomes us all with her personable quality and genuine care of the arts. She says though she was ‘technically’ trained in the United States, she was ‘artistically’ trained in Europe (from her many years living and working there). Having now lived bayside in Melbourne Australia for many years with her family, Jennifer (holding a Master of Dance (Hons) from the University of Melbourne VCA Dance amongst many other accolades) is the founder of possibly the newest visionary contemporary dance company in Victoria. Working with her passion out of the company’s base in the Cheltenham studios, she offers dancers who have finished full-time training courses, or those wishing to further enhance their higher dance training, the opportunity to learn and grow in developing performances such as ‘F5’.
It’s a beautiful night, perfect weather, the dancers have a light breeze as the sun dims just enough to create the best light. An ounce of luck there!
We, the audience, are comfortable to stay outside as three all-in-black figures appear, one by one, to the sound of percussion rhythms backdropped by a paling fence and against the red brick wall, with its graffiti just adding to the realism of where we are. There is no ‘stage’ as such, this laneway and the rooms inside will be the ‘stages’ to which we witness this project.
The dancers’ spacing, timing and awareness of each other outside in this unusual environment is so good that at one point I only saw the front dancer with the other two completely disappearing from my view to go behind her in exact matches of lines and extensions. Great opening!
This is very different choreography to ‘…5,6,7,8’. Contemporary dance has no rules, no boundaries, no pre-expectations other than when you see ‘contemporary’ you expect to have some intricate thought process on what it’s about. And that can be different for everyone watching. Our interpretation may not even be similar to each other’s or that of the choreographer or dancers, but I think that’s what makes the world of contemporary dance so interesting, you never know what you’re going to get or how you’re going to feel.
F5 takes us on a day to day (hour by hour) journey in life (that’s my interpretation anyway), i.e. three dancers, three different perspectives on life. Are they lives that are mundane, fulfilling, hurting or joyous? Will they continue to dance alone, in synchronisation or come together in a different way? Are they experiencing or remembering or imagining?
Sometimes, in certain situations, we’d all like to crawl under our coffee table, slide forward and scrape ourselves blindly down the kitchen bench, open our wardrobe and change from our boring neutral daywear into a dress of colour, screaming in silence and expressing that we all cope in different ways; falling and surviving at the same time.
Are we being heard? Do we want to skip and run and stop suddenly to meet another person only to be enveloped into their world of darkness or happiness? Is it to be our world? What choices should we make?
I saw movements and uniformity in this show I hadn’t witnessed before in contemporary dance. An element of almost hip hop at times and some amazing partnering combinations, fluidity and cross referencing from where we started in the alley for the first scene, through to the everyday living spaces and finally into the open vastness of a blank canvas room, made for compelling engagement.
We didn’t sit down at all, the audience was standing and then following the dancers through the spaces, using the entire building. When it came time to take a bow (actually 3 or 4 bows), the audience was loud and proud of what they had just seen. Well done girls!
Speaking to some other attendees after the show:
“I didn’t mind standing up, it was excellent. It didn’t have any dull moments, it went fast!”
“My mum cried, it was so captivating.”
“I couldn’t believe they could dance on, under and around the table so well”
“Loved the dancing outside, extraordinary!”
“I thought I knew what was going to happen but I didn’t”
“They were dancing in the moment, I stared straight at them, but I couldn’t shift their gaze”
Speaking to a dancer:
“To be involved was to experience a different aspect of Jen and her work, I have taken her classes before. She has a lot of energy and we worked a lot on very precise movements. Most contemporary dance I’ve done is nothing like what we did tonight. I loved it.”
Speaking to Jennifer (choreographer) on her ideas for ‘F5’:
Conformity by society is what came to mind.
“Mapping the dancers’ own stories to memory, lineage and connecting the audience to take the journey with them that underpins their own personal story within.”
A thoroughly enjoyable show, and the drinks and supper snacks provided afterwards for all the audience to enjoy gave us the opportunity to find out who thought what; and how interpretations differed, but all were impressed.
Congratulations to Jennifer and her dance artists in ‘F5’, Mollie Harrison, Bridget Lyte and Bre Surridge.
I strongly recommend if you’re a lover of dance or any interpretive artforms, look out for their next creative work and opportunities to be involved. Website link: https://www.unlid-dance.com.au/
Dancers may join an Advanced Contemporary class at Space Fest on Monday March 10th from 11am – 12:30pm at The Space and to come along! Check our the Unlid Dance website for the most current information on classes and upcoming auditions.
Photographers: Lee Harrison, Chrissy Dore Photography, Gnashmas of Singapore
