‘Groundworks’, STRUT Dance · 
Dolphin Theatre, 17 August 2022 ·  

“Groundworks” may be a new season for STRUT Dance, but its philosophy – to give local independent choreographers the opportunity to develop a short work into a mid-length work – can be traced back to the organisation’s early years. 

Founded to support Western Australia’s many talented independent dance makers, STRUT celebrates its 20^th anniversary this year. It’s heartening to see the organisation reiterating its commitment to that early mission, which feels just as vital two decades later. 

“Groundworks” is designed to provide artists a stepping stone on the path to making a full-length work. This inaugural season’s double bill fits that description perfectly; more than work-in-progress without feeling closed to future development.  

Kimberley Parkin’s Killjoy is first up. Parkin’s first full-length work Cry Baby – presented last year at The Rechabite – proved to be a raucous and joyous affair. I was keen to see where her exploration of corporate office culture would take us. 

The stage is peppered with the trappings of an office; desks, filing cabinets, a scatter of white boards and pin-boards, and two black-suited corporates slaves (Rhiana Katz and Luther Wilson).  

A whir of distant photocopiers mixed with the thrum of air-conditioning surges and retreats, almost menacingly. Parkin keeps the action minimal but strange; there’s a strong sense of animosity between the characters communicated through subtle body language. For anyone who has worked in an office (or watched the TV show Utopia), it’s all too recognisable, irritation mixed with severe boredom. 

But there’s something else going on too, and suddenly the pair are on edge, breathing in sync as office furniture moves, apparently of its own volition.  

From here, chaos ensues. The soundscape morphs into a drum beat that sounds like the “pew-pew” of sci-fi, while the dancers move in sync, robotic yet somehow juicy. A cloud of smoke is lit blue and red, underneath it the dancers are engaged in a comical battle, rhythmic crashing creating violent but slapstick sound effects. 

Killjoy doesn’t feel “finished”, not because there’s not enough in it, but because there’s so much. It feels like there’s room for editing.  

But Parkin has drawn together an impressive creative team. The score, by local electro-pop duo Feels, cleverly manipulates the action so that we’re oscillating between comedy and horror, monotony and tension. Likewise, Peter Young’s lighting design teleports us between fluoro-lit drudgery and multicoloured alt-reality. And it’s gorgeously portrayed by Katz and Wilson. 

While Parkin is in the early stages of her career, the second choreographer on the bill, Jo Omodei, is in the even-earlier stages and this is her first larger-scale choreographic engagement.  

As the Edges Soften began life earlier this year, with an iteration presented at STRUT’s “Short Cuts”. Choreographed in collaboration with her co-performer Mitch Spadaro and understudy Nadia Priolo, As the Edges Soften is described as “(creating) transient moments shared between two people, and [exploring] different temporalities of moving together apart”. 

It’s a perfect description of this duet, which sees Omodei and Spadaro traverse the stage in paths that circle and slice the space. At times, they move in sync; folding, falling, rolling. At other times, they move together but complementing one another, almost as though they are reverberating off the other’s actions.  

There are solos, too: Omodei’s twisty and choppy, Spadaro’s elongated and elegant. The score, which uses compositions by Roger Goula arranged by Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi, bathes the work in a wash of echoing and trickling electronic strings, while Peter Young creates pools and pockets of light in the otherwise empty stage. 

Interestingly, however, I enjoyed As the Edges Soften more at “Short Cuts”, in its shorter, studio format. Even a small theatre like the Dolphin elevates and distances the audience, and to me, this work was more engaging when I was close enough to feel like I could be sucked into its vortexes.  

Nonetheless, “Groundworks” makes for an evening that at first disturbs, and then soothes, with delicious dance. 

“Groundworks” continues at Dolphin Theatre until 20 August 2022. 

Pictured top: Rhiana Katz and Luther Wilson oscillate between comedy and horror in ‘Killjoy’. Photo: Edwin Sitt