REVIEW | Zip Zap Zoom

DANCE
Zip Zap Zoom, ★★★★
Quarry Amphitheatre | Review by Nina Levy

You may have seen the neon promise of the eye-catching promo photos for Ballet at the Quarry. You know, the ones featuring Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Zip Zap Zoom, the headlining work of the four-piece program.

As I enjoyed my pre-show picnic, however, I had William Forsythe’s 1985 work Steptext on my mind. This was to be my first time seeing the work of the internationally acclaimed Forsythe performed live.

I was not disappointed. Florence Leroux-Coleno, Alessio Scognamiglio, Christopher Hill and Christian Luck made their way through Forsythe’s complex twists and turns with panache. Set to Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor, punctuated with silence, Steptext focuses on a female who performs pas de deux with each of the men. For the woman, Forsythe’s famous off-centre balances feature heavily.

Leroux-Coleno was cool, calm and collected though a work that requires bravery and precision. Scognamiglio, Hill and Luck were sensational partners as they confidently negotiated fast changes of hand-grip and challenging lifts.

Rewinding now, because Steptext is second on the bill, Daniel Roberts’ Hold the Fourth opens the program, with a dystopian nod to George Orwell’s 1984. Clad in panelled grey, the nine dancers respond to music that ranges from ominous strings to yearning piano.

A seated pas de deux (Claire Hill and Andre Santos) is pensive, with complex gestures. A trio (Hill, Santos and Yusuke Hikichi) appear, rolling and rollicking as they melt and reform. The finale explodes as dancers fly through the air.

Before interval is Lopez-Ochoa’s 2006 work, La Pluie (The Rain), performed on Saturday by Matthew Lehmann and company ballet mistress Sandy Delasalle.

While one wonders why the female role was not given to one of the company dancers, Delasalle and Lehmann made an elegant couple, moving with incredible lightness through the spiralling lifts of the work.

Gentle and soothing, La Pluie doesn’t give anything away about Lopez Ochoa’s Zip Zap Zoom (2009). Monochrome styling is broken up with flashes of fluorescence in a work that takes its audience into a retro-styled computer-game world. Blending elements of hip-hop dance and street fashion with contemporary ballet, Zip Zap Zoom is a smart choice for the Quarry, where many people will try WAB for the first time to enjoy the iconic setting. However, purists be warned that there is nary a pointe shoe in sight among the sneakers. In contrast to the demands of Steptext, this work rides on novelty, rather than technical skill.

And it works. A favourite scene sees the dancers pitted against one another in a Simon-says style word-off, as the theme from Zorba the Greek ups the ante. Another highlight comes with three mannequins (Melissa Boniface, Claire Hill, Victoria Maughan), who move like present-day Coppelias, shedding brightly coloured wigs as they go. The work was performed with verve by its cast of nine, with Maughan a sassy stand-out.

With its well-paced and varied program, this year’s Ballet at the Quarry is bound to please.

Ballet at the Quarry runs until February 28.