Lennox Theatre, Riverside Theatre, Sydney.
August 15, 2024.
gold is a neoclassical ballet work created by Simone Smyers, who serves as the producer and choreographer of the work. Smiles originally created an excerpt for the ballet in 2019 and has since weathered the coronavirus pandemic to launch a fuller version of the work in the form of a 45-minute children’s ballet.
Originally written in the 1950s by Smiles’ grandmother, Marjorie Kunze, gold are the stuff of Australian fairy tales, reminiscent of the characters in Mae Gibbs’s legendary Gum Babies, as well as other native tales such as magic pudding or wink billbut no anthropomorphic animals. The smiling character conducts all communication through dance and expression, a specific intention to communicate using the classical ballet art form.
gold Explore Bendigo in the 1850s, the center of Australia’s gold rush era. The series follows two young Scottish immigrants, Araveen (Callum Hundley Hodsden) and Sheena (Mia Zanardo), as they explore their new home in Australia amid the temptations and dangers of the gold rush. story. The work features numerous Australian characters in the form of native flora and fauna, as well as other characters including a Chinese immigrant dragon (Kay Tabernall), a shady thief (Luke Tabernall) and his barmaid Partner (Samantha Wong). Two young immigrants marry in the jungle and overcome the odds with the help of jungle characters, especially the cheeky cockatoo (Bella Collishaw).
The costumes were created from a series of drawings by Kunze’s friend Una Hollingworth, who originally drew the costume designs for the piece. Laura Bailey and Nina Prive carefully researched and copied the costumes from the drawings to create a collection of beautiful colorful tutus, leotards and costumes that creatively showcase the unique textures and personalities of imaginary animals, birds and flowers. , as well as the choreography and overall look carefully crafted to fit the piece. The backgrounds (Oona Hollingworth and Lexi Smyers) are beautiful images of bush scenes and the props (James Taylor) reflect the era in a selection of pieces including a gold miner’s sluice box .
The soundtrack, composed by APRA Music Award-winning composer Me-Lee Hay, is detailed and creative. Hay expertly creates a lighthearted, fun score that incorporates the sounds of the bush and highlights aspects of the various characters and moods within the piece. It complements the choreography perfectly, as the dance tells a story, just like in ballet, all these aspects merge into one voice.
Choreographically, Smyers works to create interesting sequences that together form a whole. There are some striking details tied to individual characters, as well as unique themes that define each character. For a short work, it achieves a lot of storytelling. Some parts, such as the small group moment where flowers/animals are introduced at the beginning of the work, lack dramatic focus, affecting the work’s ability to tell a balanced story through each action. The wedding scene between the two protagonists also comes out of the blue without proper preparation.
From here, however, the narrative becomes more powerful and we see the immigrant’s story begin to unfold. Without dialogue, the story tells a clear story of discovery, struggle, and triumph through the art form of ballet and the actors’ ability to use movement and expression to communicate with the audience, from young children to adults. There’s a golden “will-o’-the-wisp” character (Kyla Rowe) who represents the allure and ethereal qualities of gold that are often out of reach, and Smyers deftly weaves her into and out of scenes , a constant reminder that success in gold mining is elusive. The use of this character is quite interesting and continues throughout the work. Luo has an otherworldly quality every time he performs on stage.
The cast consists of a carefully selected group of very talented young classical dancers. They are technically superb, expressive and absolutely a joy to watch. They captured Smyers’ vision, brought it to life, and performed their roles with maturity and sensitivity to the work’s rhythm and strong musicality. All of the lead actors have a good handle on their roles and are cast as long-time collaborators in this production. It’s a shame they don’t have a bigger stage to move around on, but they did make good use of the small space at Lennox.
gold It’s an absolute joy to watch, with a strong young cast that shines. It’s educational, entertaining and uniquely Australian. For a work that was initially considered “too Australian” when conceived, gold A sweet and nostalgic look back at a famous era in Australian history. This is a great opportunity to introduce young audiences to the wonderful art form of classical ballet and the classical music genre, and for young talented dancers to work in a professional environment while telling this special story.
Author: Linda Badger Dance information.
