Soaring Like Eagles

What is the future of live theatre? Doomsayers will tell you there is no future, and perhaps the early closing of several mainstage productions, and even theatre companies themselves, last year would add weight to that argument. But there are always entrepreneurial cock-eyed optimists willing to buck the trend and put themselves on the line and we, as theatregoers, are all the better for it.

Redback Dance Company is a new company and the baby of talented optimists Jayden Hicks and Trent Harlow. It was created under the motherly wing of StageArt and the first production, which opens next week at Chapel off Chapel, is part of the StageArt Xposed festival. Both Jayden and Trent are dedicated dancers who have already made their mark on the dance scene. Their mission statement is to “Widen audience awareness and appreciation for lyrical contemporary dance.” It’s a great mission. There isn’t any doubt audiences for dance are not keeping pace with audiences in America, where shows like “So You Think You Can dance” have introduced a whole new generation to dance, and where styles like hip-hop…with its variants of waacking, popping, animation…are as well known as classical ballet – and Jazz has its own sub categories like Broadway and funk. Contemporary is the natural evolution of classical and requires strength and technique as well as passion.  Even we non-dancing lovers of dance are probably more familiar with Mia Michaels, Travis Wall and Sonya Tayeh than we are with our local choreographers.

That’s just one of the things Redback hopes to change. Though aided by Trent Harlow, 20 year old Jayden Hick is the main choreographer for Wild Eagles Fly Alone – a lyrical contemporary piece which features 5 female dancers as friends trying to find where they belong in life. Jayden sees himself as a storyteller, beyond being a dancer. “It’s just that my medium is dance. But dance has to be about more than just technique. It has to draw you in and make you feel something, and the best way of doing that is to tell you a story.” He and Trent had originally planned to dance in the piece but then decided they really wanted to be in the audience to see what they were creating. “Besides,” he adds, “it’s a story about young women. It really didn’t need us.”

Jayden comes from the unlikely Gippsland town of Morwell. He started classes at age three as a tap dancer and it wasn’t until he was nearing his teens that he was spotted by acclaimed dance teacher Brian Nolan who immediately took him on as a ballet student, even though young Jayden had to travel to Warragul for classes. By the age of 16 he was working professionally in Melbourne and has never looked back, with shows as diverse as La Cage Aux Folles (he acts as well) and Vertical Shadows’ On the Rocks. On every occasion he has been singled out, and it isn’t only because of his amazing copper coloured hair. He’s a sublime dancer whose strength belies his years.

Trent hails from the Gold Coast and started out training for classical ballet. He moved first to Sydney and then to New York to study. His ambition was always to have his own dance company, but it seemed like just a pipedream for years. He first encountered Jayden when they worked together on Matalor, a spectacular dance piece choreographed by Stephen Agisilaou – the current Wunderkind of independent dance companies. That was when they clicked and decided to work together, and they already knew the dancers they wanted to work with.

It’s been a long but exciting creative process, exploring not just the dance ability but the diverse personalities of their five female dancers. Eley May, Pru Wilson, Kiara Kieser, Hayley Burdon and Kaela Brushett are the five dancers who will bring Jayden’s vision and Trent’s dream to life. If this first season goes well, their hope is that they will take the work to other states, or perhaps even on a regional tour. Jayden would especially love to take the company to Warragul, where so much of his life as a dancer was formed.

Though the season at Chapel off Chapel is short (6^th, 7^th and 16^th of February) lovers of dance really must see Wild Eagles Fly Alone. You might just be witnessing the birth of a major dance company.

Coral Drouyn