By Ellie Dean
It’s been a painstaking few years of lockdowns and cancellations for Flare Dance Ensemble since their last annual live show in 2019. This year, they’ve returned with a bold, confident and multifaceted Newsflash that pushes the group’s talent firmly back into the headlines.
Of course, Flare is known to put quite a bit of emphasis on the multifaceted. They’re a non-profit student run organisation that aims to encourage university students from all backgrounds to express themselves through dance, specialising in everything from k-pop to ballet. For artistic director Jonathan Yeo, this year’s show is a reference to the titular news headlines that have affected and disrupted all of our lives over the past two years. It’s topical for everyone affected by COVID-19, but especially for Yeo himself: 2022 is his third year as artistic director for Flare, but only the first with the opportunity to stage their annual showcase live.
The show does not waste time lingering on what has already passed: instead, each of the twelve separate pieces in Newsflash is a decisive celebration of the group’s fresh and diverse creativity and the long-awaited joy of returning to live performance. Flare has also made a concerted effort to welcome in the ‘new’ behind the scenes: seven of the group’s twelve choreographers presented work with Flare for the very first time.
The excited atmosphere of the night was held back at times by minor technical issues. There was a ten-minute delay to the show’s start (in which the house lights came down and back up again) and a couple of lighting transitions throughout the show that felt as if they went on for just a moment too long. Considering that this is the first time Flare has performed in the new Union Theatre, it’s likely that this is one of the symptoms of settling into the space. In any case, neither the dancers’ performances or the audience’s enthusiasm was deterred by the minor hitches.
The team of the first piece, Rikita B Naidu’s Bollywood tribute ‘Pyar’, certainly weren’t daunted by the delay, and set the standard for the rest of the night formidably high. Naidu clearly has every confidence in her stars, who were given their rightful moments to shine (including in a hilarious opening trailer), but it was the power of her ensemble work that truly led the piece. Standing nineteen strong on the stage, the entire group rose to the challenge of her exacting choreography in a joyful spectacle of costumed gold and red.
‘The Shadows on My Mother’s Wall’, choreographed by Joaquiana Wilson, provided an abrupt thematic shift. Her exploration of complex and traumatic mother-daughter relationships had a strong beginning with a horror-movie style opener that was genuinely frightening and choreography that explored both the graceful and the menacing. However, there was an inconsistency to the tone that made the story’s ultimate resolution unsatisfying for me. If Wilson’s desire was to explore or complicate archetypical depictions of complex mothers and innocent children, her clear-cut happy ending seemed to verge on confirming them instead, and felt like it mismatched the narrative’s disquieting set-up.
From there, the audience was pulled into an impressively varied whirlwind tour of different themes and styles. Lulu Chen’s Michael Jackson inspired and crown-casino referencing ‘Smooth Criminal’ featured some sleek suits and eye-catching chair work, but felt a little more rough around the edges than some of the group’s other pieces. Jonathan Yeo took on the daunting task of adapting ancient epic poetry for the stage in ‘Gilgamesh: Origins’, but confidently made it his own with choreography that balanced the mystical, graceful and powerful. If the couple versus a dangerous cult set-up for the next piece ‘We’ll Meet Again’ felt a little cliché, it was immediately outweighed by Claire Anderson’s impressively unnerving choreography and visual storytelling.
I want to give special mention to Mitchell Castello’s sultry and dynamic ‘School of Sin’. Castello managed to sustain a playful tone in choreography throughout the entire piece’s fast-paced exploration of the seven sins, while also keeping each new segment fresh and distinct from its predecessor. The result was a tempting visual feast of high-energy dance that looked so effortless it allowed the audience to forget the work that must have gone into perfecting it.
‘You Should Be Dancing’ by Annabel Shaw delivered on its promise of a pirouette away from the conventions of ballet with a glittery, fun and undeniably groovy tram disco. But Shaw shone brightest when on stage herself—filling one of the central roles in Bonnie Su’s standout piece ‘Hide and Seek’. Su explored the dynamics and heartbreaks of relationships and intimacy with extraordinary sensitivity and insight toward their complications. Her talented ensemble of dancers were both impressively symbiotic as a group and individually vulnerable in moments of spotlight. The strength of Su’s physical storytelling allowed the audience to not only follow multiple complex character arcs, but to understand and empathise with them as well.
Karlo Julian’s ‘Insula’ was another powerful and affective piece, spellbinding in its dissection of isolation and moving in its call to connect to those around you. John Donne’s poem ‘No Man is an Island’ may be over-quoted, but Julian succeeded in giving it a sense of refreshed meaning with elegant, intentional and seamless movement that evidenced their talent for both choreography and storytelling. In contrast, Djacint Dumapias’ ‘A Cheeky Love Tale’ provided comparatively less commentary on the human condition—but it was fun, cheesy and crowd pleasing in all the best ways. The next piece, Carmen Yih’s ‘Home’, returned to and provided closure to the thematic thread begun by Julian and Su with a love letter to found family. Yih’s work contained powerful movement and a distinct physical eloquence, but at times felt slightly more unfocused as it struggled to keep up with its own tonal shifts.
Last (but certainly not least) Daniel Lewis’ ‘Romance or Reward’ brought vibrant seduction to the show’s finale. Considering that the stage production of Moulin Rouge! has only just left Melbourne and is likely still fresh in many people’s minds, re-choreographing an iconic medley from its soundtrack such as ‘Backstage Romance’ was a bold choice—but it was the right one. I’m delighted to inform you that Lewis and his ensemble ate it up, alternatingly dominating the stage and seducing the audience with a rightful confidence in their own abilities. It was the perfect final number to remind the audience of Flare’s signature passion, and of the power and diverse talent of their ensemble.
Newsflash may have been Flare’s comeback from two years without live shows, but they’re certainly looking towards the future—and I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Flare Dance Ensembles’s NEWSFLASH ran October 6th to 8th at the new Union Theatre.
Ellie Dean (she/her) is an arts student studying theatre, literature and film in Naarm/Melbourne.
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