Australia Dancing - Vis-a-Vis Dance Canberra (1993

Vis-a-Vis Dance Canberra (1993 - 1995)

Gould, Ross: Michelle Heaven and Phillip Adams in Sue Healey's 'Fugue - in Pursuit of Flight', Vis-a-Vis Dance Canberra, 1994

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Following Meryl Tankard’s move to Adelaide at the end of 1992 to take up the directorship of Australian Dance Theatre, Sue Healey was appointed to lead Canberra’s professional contemporary dance company from 1993. Healey changed the name of the company to Vis-a-Vis Dance Canberra. The company name and Healey’s vision for the company was released in a media statement in February 1993:

‘The rhythm of vis-a-vis suggests to me dynamic movement; a vehicle for collaboration; being face-to-face with ideas which extend, enrich and celebrate the language of movement, finding an interface with innovators in all forms of media. My vision for the Company is to provide a rich, fertile environment for the making of significant Australian performance.’

In its first season Vis-a-Vis showed a new work by Healey, Utter Heart. It premiered at the Albert Hall on 16 July 1993 and featured dancers Sue Healey, Michelle Heaven, Warwick Long, Charles Neho, Jennifer Newman-Preston and Belinda Saltmarsh. Knee Deep in Thin Air, an existing work from Healey’s oeuvre, followed. It was presented at the ANU Arts Centre, opening on 14 October 1993 as part of the National Festival of Australian Theatre. Knee Deep, inspired by two books, Bruno Bettleheim’s Uses of Enchantment and Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women who Run with the Wolves, was performed to music by Mike Nock and danced by Healey, Heaven, Long and Saltmarsh. The 1993 production grew out of an initial version created by Healey in Melbourne in 1992 and a short film version made in collaboration with film-maker Louise Curham, also in 1992.

The company’s 1994 season opened on 30 June at the Street Theatre with Fugue - in pursuit of flight choreographed by Healey. It was performed by Phillip Adams, Heaven, Michael O’Donoghue and Saltmarsh to an electronic score and brass accompaniment composed by Tim Kreger. Later that year Vis-a-Vis presented Succulent Blue Sway with a musical score by Darrin Verhagen. It opened on 7 October at the Street Theatre as part of the National Festival of Australian Theatre and featured Healey, Brett Daffy, Heaven, Saltmarsh and Xiao-Xiong Zhang. Late in 1994 the company also presented A Dancers’ Choreographic Season [sic] in the Gorman House theatre space with performers Daffy, Healey and Heaven. Healey choreographed Untitled, Daffy Equalibrium - Laughing Crying Deep [sic], Heaven Body Bits - The Skeletal System and guest choreographer Sandra Parker choreographed Desire - Memory I & II. The program also contained Trio, which was adapted from the duet in Healey’s Succulent Blue Sway.

Succulent Blue Sway was performed again in January 1995 at the Green Mill Dance Project and featured Healey, Adams, Daffy, Heaven, Nicole Johnston and Xiao-Xiong Zhang. Askew, dance out of line followed in March 1995. This program featured performers Heaven, Daffy, Sally Smith and Luke Smiles in five works: Monsieur Piquote, choreographed by Heaven, Wuthering Heights by Sally Smith, Saddle Up - Part I by Healey and two works by Daffy, Safe and Wall.

Healey resigned as artistic director in 1995 citing in her statement of resignation funding cuts and her belief that Canberra was ‘strong in its nostalgia for the past and weak in its acceptance of the new’. Healey’s last show as director was In the Wind’s Eye, which opened in the Gorman House theatre space on 28 June 1995. A triple bill program, it comprised Hark Back and Saddle Up!, both choreographed by Healey, and Scherzo Humoresque, choreographed by Phillip Adams. Performers in this last Vis-a-Vis season were Healey, Adams, Heaven, Johnston, Newman-Preston and Smiles with a guest appearance by Leo Davenport.

Following Healey’s departure from Canberra a period of community discussion began, which eventually resulted in the disbanding of the company structure, which had been in place in Canberra since 1980 when Human Veins Dance Theatre became Canberra’s first professional dance company. The Choreographic Centre, now the Australian Choreographic Centre, was formed following this community discussion, and began operations in 1996.

Bibliography:

Information on Vis-a-Vis Dance Canberra and their repertoire to 1994 can be found in The Ausdance Guide to Australian Dance Companies, 1994 (Canberra: AGPS, 1994), pp. 253-267.

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