
Being Male Is | Jaycob Beven-Delaney & Eli Bunyoung
It was clear to me that these two young performers were drawing on emotional truth when performing this story. They were present with each other and they were present with us. Their dialogue was underpinned by dynamic movement pieces that conveyed an emotional intensity beyond words.

Arc | Australasian Dance Collective
Arc was the first show of ADC since November 2019, and it was a remarkable post-pandemic lockdown comeback. It took place in South Bank, in the grassy area set against river and the cityscape as background. It is not often that you can enjoy the inviting feelings evoked by the Mercurian feet of dancers moving on soft grass.
1.5x12 | Phluxus2 Dance Collective
“I’ve found time to recalibrate my understanding of self in this shifting terrain. More than ever I feel the deep value of my choreographic self, my collaborators, my community and the significance of arts and culture of our country.” Nerida Matthaei on creating in the new normal.

Common People Dance Eisteddfod 2 | Common People Dance Project
On Saturday night, I watched the second greatest battle of all time... The Common People Dance Eisteddfod 2. The teams of suburban gladiators had a dance off once again to prove which side of Brisbane is the best. The event was held at the South Bank Piazza; south of the bank, west of the city, east of the border and north of the rest of the world.

The Type | Pink Matter
I love seeing young women who are free. It makes my heart sing. I don’t think you ever regret making art like this - fun, determined and with all your mates and for the pure joy of it and cause it’s important and just because you want to move like this.

Yang Liping’s Rite of Spring | Peacock Contemporary Dance Company
Surely, it’s one of the most illustrious and unpredictable experiences any audience-member will have in a theatre. It lurches from the patient, meditative opening to moments of almost pure anarchy. Golden light gives way to pure darkness. Dancers attack and exhaust themselves – euphoric and terrified. It’s a lot.
But, throughout, I kept returning to the ideas of Rite of Spring. That question.
What’s the impact?

Common People Dance Eisteddfod | Common People Dance Project
Through sheer force of will and an encyclopedic knowledge of 80s choreography, Neridah has created the impossible – the dance off to end all dance offs that citizens from all sides of river and all walks of life could enjoy. Comprising of at least seven choreographed routines, three celebrity judges, over 100 performers and a competition where cheating is encouraged, it became the hottest ticket in town.

100 Years of the History of Dance | Joseph Simons
In Jacob, the team have created a unique guide through the last 100 yearsof dance. Joseph plays Jacob with the right combination of effortless charm,youthful exuberance, flamboyance, vulnerability and boundless energy to balanceout his know-it-all nature.

Re:membering | UMWELTCollective
This is deeply personal work. This is about these two sisters; not all sisters, but these ones in particular. The tides of the relationship are marked out, sometimes it is abundantly clear to us the vicissitudes, other-times we are left to wonder.

Dust | DanceNorth
The dancers worked in a choreography that was reminiscent of robots or possessed creatures, it was creepily effective, heads and limbs askew, almost aggressively presenting an internal animosity, a struggle between self and a rogue body.

Dance: A Double Bill | Sarah Aiken & Rebecca Jensen
The show centres largely around disruption and discomfort, there is a building soundscape that peaks in shrill and panicky noise while our principal dancers explores her surroundings.

Bull | Kristian Šantić
Mythological creatures patched themselves together. Pan was present, Orpheus climbing from Hades, the horror and the cruelty of the Roman pantheon, the cold heart of Shizmu. A man in a cage, climbing to get out. The body that is frail that keeps on climbing. A creature is becoming.

The Inquisition of the Big Bad Wolf | Prying Eye
This is contemporary dance, but not as you know it. Interdisciplinary works are all the rage at the moment, and this talented company have nailed the brief, fusing dance, theatre and performance art into a great big hilarious wonderland.