Reckless Valour

Revisiting the original, 2005, production of Reckless Valour, QL2, its artistic director, Ruth Osborne, and four more of the original roll of choreographers —Natalie Cursio, Jodie Farrugia, Fiona Malone, and Rowan Marchingo — as well as James Batchelor, a young dancer in the original work, have choreographed the work anew, with fresh restructuring under the guidance of dramaturg Paschal Danto Berry.

This "re-imagined" work comprises a set of pieces set to new music, whose composers hail from all over the east coast: Warwick Lynch, Mark Webber, Morgan Hickenbotham, Nicholas Ng, and Luke Tierney.

As if this weren't enough collaborators, the dancers themselves have had creative input into interpreting the pieces' themes.

Those themes, developed in collaboration with the Australian War Memorial in 2005, concerned both world wars, which the original work was written to commemorate.  In this new work, the dancers have contributed their interpretations of broader themes of war and its consequences; and prime ministerial justification for war extends to the invasion of Afghanistan.

The work’s only evident weaknesses lay in its soundtrack.  Aside from being often too loud, in several tracks drums overwhelmed the vocal instruments; and one of the tracks, accompanying low-quality video, was simply unmusical.

But these hardly marred the overall experience; such quibbles aside, the performance conveyed thoughtfulness, compassion, and enthusiasm in a set of seven or eight pieces that were interesting in choreography and tight in execution.  All aspects of the performance displayed nice coordination, even after apparently arbitrary pauses; smoothness in manoeuvres executed by up to 32 dancers; and energy, strength, and grace surprising in dancers so young.  The epilogue in particular was a joy to watch, and all in all, this was a rewarding production.

John P. Harvey

Image: QL2, in Reckless Valour.  Photographer: John P. Harvey.