Phobia
Velocity Dance Productions @ Mercury Cinema
2:00pm, Sun 24 Feb 2002
Score: 3
Short Review: Unprofessional
Velocity Dance Productions (a troupe developed out of Eltham High School in Victoria) presented three dance pieces based around different phobias.
The first, Arachnophobia, set the scene: and what a shocker it was. Large amounts of the “dance” had all the synchronicity and enthusiasm of a 9am Monday morning aerobics class. The transitions between pieces of music (within each piece) appeared to have been editted with nowt but an old turntable and a rusty chainsaw. The second piece, Aviaphobia, had more potential – some pieces of choreography actually seemed quite clever, and would have been impressive – if someone else were performing them. The last piece, Claustrophobia, was abysmal. Let’s be honest, it was shithouse. If it was supposed to look like the dancers didn’t look like they knew what they were doing, then I apologise; however, I don’t don’t think this was the case.
Things were sub-par technically as well – apart from the staggeringly bad music transitions, the lighting was also staccato. The quality of the dancers… well, to be honest, my SO and I each thought there were three good dancers out of the eight, and only had one in common. But most looked like they didn’t want to be there, or didn’t know the pieces. And those “back rollover” thingies were just appalling.
To be honest, the very worst thing about this show (and let’s face it, there’s a long list of things to dislike) was the absolute lack of professionalism showed by the performers, whether it was milling about before the performance, or during the performance itself. One would have expected that those trying to get “a break” may have shown a little more dedication, application, focus; however, few of the dancers seen here are likely to be seeing their names in any more programmes.