Momentum
Produced by JT Performing Arts Company and Sydney Fringe Festival
at Chippin Street Theatre
This is a dance focused piece by a new theatre company and a group of young dancers. It shows a series of vignettes of various themes with some dance solos mixed in between. It has overwhelmingly heavy 1980s influences, in dance style, music and look. Even if some of the songs were written later, they all have 80s call backs. There are four core dancers and three soloists. The four core dancers do work their butts off, as these sections are quite long and relentless.
Before the show started, I was looking through the digital program. It always alarms me when there is so much explanation of a work in the program, this is either a sign of no clear point of view or over intellectualising. I think in this case it was a bit of both.
Chippin Street Theatre needs to replace their speakers. They are both blown out. I would recommend wearing ear loops or eye plugs as the music is at a deafening level the entire time. This is very distracting throughout the show.
The three soloists Jasmine Bowtell, Ashley Miller and Alyssa May really stood out. Yes, they had less to do but they all had clear focus of their intention with what they wanted to say in their solos. Ashley and Alyssa should consider focusing on cabaret dancing as they definitely have the height, extension and look for it. These jobs could help them travel the world with their careers. Jasmine Bowtell would have to be the best dancer of the night with beautiful technique and a natural grasp on raw emotion, that you could tell she was feeling with every fibre of her being. Her first solo was a particular stand out.
Out of the four core dancers there was definitely a difference in ability, which became most apparent in the unison dancing. Sometimes the steps were right, but style was not consistent and clean between the four. I wonder if this was opening night nerves and perhaps this will improve in the run. It is quite a marathon for them. Perhaps shortening the sequences and adding more solos would have helped the pace and stamina.
Out of the four core dancers Mia Ryan really stood out. Her precision with every step made it very clear who dominated the “company” collaboration choreography. My eye was always drawn to her every time she was on stage. I would have liked to have seen more solos by her.
JT Performing Arts Company is a brand new theatre company and this is their first outing. I know a lot of hard work and energy went into producing the show and that is an accomplishment in itself.
Momentum runs until Saturday 26th.
To book tickets to Momentum, please visit https://sydneyfringe.com/events/momentum/.