Billed as “an urban legend straight from the streets of New York City”, and produced by Libby Calder, Lady Liberty is a high energy, explosive blockbuster of sound and synergy. A series of characters drawn from street identities – Vogue, Hipster, Broadway, Baseball… loosely hold the idea together, and the cast pump and pout their way through with relentless angst and aggressive ‘attitude’.

Choreographic credit is given to the Infinite Dance Crew, and their hop hop genre and style is loud, tight and infectious. The large cast are having fun being who (I hope) these young people are not! But the vocabulary is all the same and does not give the contextual and conceptual opportunity that would artistically make this a show-stopper. Too much of a good thing does not take the work on the artistic journey the dancers could clearly travel. They walk the walk and talk the talk and  certainly dance the dance, but the contrasts are few, and Lady Liberty herself is not developed as a character: she stands tall, lit by a rainbow of colours, on her podium ‘directing traffic’.

There were no music credits and the APRA fees must be pretty steep as commercial songs were predominant. New York, New York complete with feather fans and ahigh kick line was a highlight. A welcome relief from the relentless frenzy was a saxophone solo by Matt Benton; a contemporary item to You Remember Me; a fun interlude at the start of Vogue, and  two cools chicks in red on roller skates. The gang boyz v gals was excellent, and the Freedom Finale picked up on the much vaunted American dream!

Anna Robinson as the Photographer was a constant presence and had an understated style as she linked the dancing documentary to the filmic set by real life photographer Frankie Nichols. This was projected on high screens as a backdrop.

Clever ideas did not cover the limitations of the choreographic content – slick and sharp but too much the same. It did not feel like a show that was exploring its material thoroughly, and it would have been great if this amazing group of excellent young dancers could have had the confidence to push out and be braver about the content. That said – full marks for commitment rhythm and projection – the large cast had an enthusiastic audience and it was a full-on forty five minutes of excellent hip hop. I look forward to seeing the Infinite Team develop further as they keep on their artistic journey.

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