Bodytorque Up Late: Clarifying Carbon

It’s been such an exciting opportunity to create a new work for the 2023 up late program. I used the 60th diamond anniversary of The Australian Ballet as a springboard for ideas when I started to create. I’ve entitled the piece Clarifying Carbon. Over the seven-minute work, two different compositions, the first by Steve Reich and the second by David Diamond underpin the choreography performed by six wonderful artists, my fellow dancers and friends who bring the creation to life.

There is an alluring quote by José Martí; “All is beautiful and unceasing, all is music and reason, and all, like diamond, is carbon first, then light”.

Deep beneath the Earth’s crust, high pressure and temperature push carbon atoms together, arranging them in a latticework that forms the diamond crystal structure. I think of this in parallel with the birth and growth of The Australian Ballet over the past 60 years. Through dynamic evolution and under immense pressure, the company has continued to refine and polish, bringing multi-faceted performances and sparkle to audiences here and abroad.

The dancers and their individual qualities in movement and of course the music. For this work, it’s the way gems throw and reflect different light. Often when I have a motif for a work, I’ll delve into the dancing of light from gems. For this piece, it’s the forming of a diamond. The visual representation of a diamonds carbon structure and the shapes that are presented through the covalent chemical bond of atoms. This gave me many formations and ideas for movement and spacing.

It’s something that has always given me joy and I am often inspired to create when I hear brilliant music. I have memories from around the age of 11, making up dances with my younger brother to mums CDs, sitting the family down to watch us perform them. Then, when I was at The Australian Ballet School we studied a subject called Dance Perspective where we had to create a solo piece for our end of year exam. I enjoyed this very much at the time and it sparked an interest in choreography.

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to be involved with the 2022 Bodytorque season. I created In Ex Celsius with ten other dancers and it was wonderful. In 2020, during the COVID lockdowns I was fortunate to co-choreograph a piece for a short film Murmuring with Mason Lovegrove. This included 30 dancers, 10 from the company, plus the graduating students from The Australian Ballet School. It was a unique experience as we taught the choreography over zoom and did not perform the piece in person with all dancers until the shoot days due to lockdown restricting group gatherings. It was very exciting in a nerve-wracking way!

Classical ballet has such a clear foundation and place to start before any other form of dance. It’s about technique, line and quality. Contemporary dance explores those challenges and pushes beyond that.

Absolutely. Classical ballet is my foundation, what I have grown up learning and training. I think subconsciously, movement does originate from there. I love to play and experiment with the traditional lines and shapes I've learnt and find new ways of moving through, around and with them.

I am looking forward to sitting back and watching the artists make it their own. It’s a surreal feeling when all elements of a creation; my ideas, the dancer’s artistry and skill, the amazing music, costume and lighting comes together. It makes me proud of everyone involved, and hungry to keep creating.