Saturday, 10 July 2010
The masculine, testosterone fuelled and unapologetically sexy Rock the Ballet opens with a decidedly feel-good vibe (I Gotta Feelin’… Tonight’s Goin’ to be a Good Night), and then proceeds to bring the rest of the audience to the party; impressing and arousing with matchless physical displays of breathtaking leaps, jumps and tricks delivered with an incubus bravura attitude that flips between cheeky, romantic and carnal.
Choreographer and lone female dancer Adrienne Canterna-Thomas has astutely crafted an adrenaline active contemporary production that utilises strong influences from classical ballet and energised by a rock-pop soundtrack that a mainstream audience can recognise and relate to.
Multimedia projections by video designer William Cusick dominated the expansive back wall and gave the show an iPod gen atmosphere, keenly supported by lighting designer Ashley Day’s strong swathes of colour, tone and spotlight.
The masculine, testosterone fuelled and unapologetically sexy Rock the Ballet opens with a decidedly feel-good vibe (I Gotta Feelin’… Tonight’s Goin’ to be a Good Night), and then proceeds to bring the rest of the audience to the party; impressing and arousing with matchless physical displays of breathtaking leaps, jumps and tricks delivered with an incubus bravura attitude that flips between cheeky, romantic and carnal.Choreographer and lone female dancer Adrienne Canterna-Thomas has astutely crafted an adrenaline active contemporary production that utilises strong influences from classical ballet and energised by a rock-pop soundtrack that a mainstream audience can recognise and relate to.
Multimedia projections by video designer William Cusick dominated the expansive back wall and gave the show an iPod gen atmosphere, keenly supported by lighting designer Ashley Day’s strong swathes of colour, tone and spotlight.
The stage itself was largely bare and the props minimal (save for the subversively funny ‘ladies’ in the Carmen sequence), but what more do you need when the performers give us their all with skill, sweat and swagger released by a hot hits score that allows them to seriously step up?
With enough variety to allow everyone a favourite, lead Bad Boy and dance director Rasta Thomas nonetheless stole much of the stage with a smouldering charisma that defied you to resist and a sweet back story revealed in the program (that Pretty Girl on stage? His equal in art and life, the childhood sweetheart who became his choreographer wife).
Touting itself as Ballet for the 21st Century, how else can you answer that bold assertion but with applause and encores?
Believe the hype!
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