Karen Norris – deborah jones: FollowSpot

Flora. The Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre. The Regent, Melbourne, March 12. Sydney until April 18, 2026.

I saw Flora at its premiere in Melbourne in March and was struck anew by the breadth of artistic director David Hallberg’s vision for The Australian Ballet. Hallberg’s counterpart at Bangarra Dance Theatre, Frances Rings, is his equal in daring. Both companies are leading forces in Australian dance but would seem to be strange bedfellows. Stylistically and…

SILENCE. Karul Projects, Sydney Opera House, May 8, 2024

Thomas E.S. Kelly’s SILENCE has been well travelled since its premiere at the Brisbane Festival in 2020. That’s a measure of how well it’s been received, which is excellent, and the enduring nature of its theme, which is not so good. SILENCE comes out swinging at the fact that Australia’s First Nations people are still waiting for a…

Inaccessible glamour

Choreographed by Narelle Benjamin. Performance Space, Sydney, August 22. HIDING in Plain Sight is like a remote beauty, a super-something with abundant personal assets who glides through the world as if not quite of it – cool, guarded, cocooned, separate. Lesser mortals may look but not touch. They may admire, but not presume to approach….