Faster review: Triple treat lacks variety
FASTER
Sydney Opera House, April 7
Until April 26
★★★★
One of the enticing aspects of a triple bill by a classical ballet company is the prospect of variety: almost certainly three different choreographers working with composers and designers who complement their varied approaches.
But in the Australian Ballet's latest triple bill, Faster, diversity is missing. There is plenty of fast, technically impressive dancing in an abstract mode but not enough light, shade and difference to show each piece at its best.
The ballet Faster was created by the British choreographer David Bintley to music by Australian composer Matthew Hindson in honour of the 2012 London Olympics. It is very much a piece for the occasion and you have to wonder why it has been revived on the other side of the world.
While it gives the dancers a chance to display their exemplary athleticism – jumping, running, kicking, swimming and so on – it is more a record of these activities than an exploration of them by the artform.
Squander and Glory, by Tim Harbour to music by Michael Gordon's Weather One, was inspired by a complex French philosophical concept that I can best summarise as gain and loss.
Our gain is Harbour's sensitive handling of his smartly costumed ensembles of 14 dancers, doubled in numbers by the mirror backcloth. The handsome set by Kelvin Ho with lighting by Benjamin Cisterne is dominated by a monumental and changing projection.
Challenging duets and a trio are interspersed, flowing smoothly through some interesting developments to the inevitable loss – you know it when you see it. Happily it is only a brief part of the work.
Wayne McGregor's Infra, a title shared by Max Richter's composition which partners it, is partly a response to the London bombings in 2005. Stick figures go about their daily business (unwittingly headed for disaster?) in Julian Opie's cartoon-like sequence screened above the stage, while the dancers below enact the real people whose lives may soon be lost.
More broadly, Infra can be seen as anyone's inner and outer lives. It is dominated by duets, often jagged yet neatly interwoven and beautifully danced, the most striking choreography of the evening – yet so similar in structure to what went before.
While there are dancers who shine over the three works – Vivienne Wong, Kevin Jackson, Leanne Stojmenov, Jarryd Madden, Alice Topp, Adam Bull, Imogen Chapman – the strongest impression is one of the company working closely as a unit, an outstanding achievement.
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