Flora

Commissioned by David Hallberg and the Australian Ballet and choreographed by Frances Rings, Flora is jaw-dropping. It seems almost pointless to review this wonderful piece because there are only so many ways you can say that something is brilliant.  However, lets dive into the thesaurus and see what we come up with.

Flora is a new full length contemporary ballet by Frances Rings, to a score by William Barton.  It tells the story of a variety of flora, important to our Indigenous people and their stories. We move through time from underground growth through to colonisation and the adoption of the wattle as our national flower.  Each vignette is glorious, complex and layered. The Bangarra style is grounded and low to the ground, giving the choreography an organic and visceral feel. It’s vivid and beautiful, evocative and dazzling. 

Barton’s score is equally as lustrous. His heavy reliance on the strings in the stripped down orchestra evokes joy, sadness and at times shame from the audience. The level of emotion elicited was truly astonishing. Set design by Elizabeth Gadsby, lighting by Karen Norris and costumes by Grace Lillian Lee were all flawless and established the world of plants that we needed to inhabit.  Highlights of this tremendous show were the aerial work of the yams being lowered toward the stage and the body bag like samples of plants in the opening of Act II.

But there really isn’t any point in trying to pick out the best parts of a sublime dance experience.  See it. Hear it. Feel it. Love it.

L.B.Bermingham

Photographer: Kate Longley