New Breed 2024 (Sydney Dance Company) ★★★★

Choreographed by Piran Scott, Dean Elliott, Siobhan McKenna & Amber McCartney. Sydney Dance Company. Carriageworks. 4–14 Dec, 2024.

Sydney Dance Company’s annual showcase of emerging choreographers, New Breed, is back for 2024 with a mini-advent calendar of different treats. The four works on show are each completely unique, using dance in different ways to explore ideas of how human bodies interact with the world.

The performance opens with its most easily accessible piece, Piran Scott’s Breath. Choreographed to the music of John Butler’s acoustic track ‘Ocean’, Breath embodies the deep connection Australians have with our coastline while taking us through one person’s life, from first breath to last (the ending is very Hamilton). The most lyrical and romantic of the four works, it draws us in and opens the night strong.

Up next is Dean Elliott’s Full In / Half Out, a look at athleticism and friendly (?) competition. Blending the worlds of gymnastics and dance, a troupe of dancers in skin-tight, glittering bodysuits (by Aleisha Jelbert) bend and stretch, flip and leap, all jostling for attention and superiority. There is a healthy dose of humour mixed with the impressive sensuality of Elliott’s work. Of all the pieces, Elliott showcased the dancers’ strength and physical prowess the most – I wish my back had that level of flexibility.

Have you ever been in a room of people talking when suddenly all the conversations pause at the same time and there is a moment of silence? This kind of group behaviour is at the heart of Siobhan McKenna’s Say It Again, the most experimental of the pieces. An interesting exploration of sound through movement and the tension we feel to subconsciously find order and unity, but also independent expression, Say It Again uses the rustle of the costumes (complete with bulbous, ruffled sleeves) and vocalisations as its only audio accompaniment. It was a real “lean in” moment. While not completely successful, this feels like the beginning of an interesting practice, and it will be exciting to see where this piece evolves next.

The performance closes with my favourite piece, Amber McCartney’s haunting Leech. When I say ‘haunting’, I don’t mean in a lyrical, emotionally longing sense. I mean it in a literal “I will have nightmares now” sense. McCartney throws us into a world of science-fiction body horror. In a pre-recorded introduction, McCartney speaks of her love of 70s and 80s sci-fi, and specifically cites Philip Kaufman’s 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body-Snatchers as a key reference for Leech. However, I saw clear echoes of more recent psychologically disturbing films like Jonathan Glazer’s 2013 Under The Skin and Alex Garland’s 2019 Annihilation as well.

With a discordant soundscape by Alisdair & Robert Macindoe and Robert Downie, the dancers form a mass of seemingly disassociated limbs and appendages that move with unnatural grace. Like a newborn foal, these grotesqueries slowly learn to become more human-like. Brilliant costume design and subtly low lighting keep you unsure how many performers are on stage as they combine and separate, at times with two heads, at times with four legs… it is thrilling to watch.

One thing is clear from these four works: there is a rich breadth and depth of choreographic talent in Australia, and our contemporary dance scene has a strong, bold future.