Venue: Sydney Theatre at Walsh Bay (Sydney NSW), May 16 – 18, 2013
Choreographer: Garry Stewart
Music: Luke Smiles

Theatre review
This re-construction of the classical Giselle delivers an incredible amount of punch and excitement, leaving its audience on a high as though it had witnessed an action movie in the flesh, rather than a work created from the deconstruction of ballet.

One could argue that the star of the show is composer Smiles, whose music overwhelms and guides the viewer through the hour long performance, providing logic and narrative to the dancers’ work. Less effective is the massive electronic screen, which spouts words throughout, supposedly complementing the choreography in some way, but is actually both ugly and distracting.

Stewart’s choreography is intriguing and captivating. The pace of the work is urgently energetic, but he also provides variety throughout to prevent any moments of monotony. The incessant procession of bodies only ever entering stage right, and their frequently breathtaking super-human feats make this a real spectacle of a performance, but in the end, the beauty of its dance still breaks through and touches. What remains is sublime.

www.adt.org.au