This first of the Short+Sweet programmes provides the audience with variety, including the serious, savvy, reflective, funny and scary, within a certain amount of homogeneity. Risk taking, arguably an important feature of new dance works, is present in some of the twelve works more than others. Nevertheless, the thematic range and overall performance quality on display makes for an enjoyable evening of dance that could appeal to many.

Erring on oversimplifying what’s on view in the works, I review the works as group, duet and solos pieces. There are certain similarities between the group pieces in that they combine recognisable contemporary dance technical vocabulary, fluid gestural language, smooth shifts between canon, unison, solos and other relationship variations to create balanced dance compositions. Where these works offer the most interest is in their different thematic content.

Joshua Grace’s quartet, Peace, set to live original rap style song and guitar by himself and Matt Nanai, delivers attitude in asking questions about how we make judgments on others.

The Bachelor is Emily Woodall’s parody on the namesake reality tv show. You do not have to have watched this programme to understand what Woodall is sending up. The five dancers present a different stereotyped competitor in a series of fleeting vignettes from the show. They vie for attention, jostling desperately and sometimes amusingly, each able to display different faces of what reality tv depicts as feminine. It’s a worry.

By way of contrast, a hard hitting piece that faces up to reality is Sophie Follett’s Kei Warware Tatou (Lest We Forget), a lament for the fallen of the Maori battalion. Live singing in Maori of Amazing Grace by Matthew Williams, prologues the five dancers’ sincere and evocative performances. Images of the fallen, the fight for life and appeals to a higher force are suitably solemn, evoking memories of the futility of war as likely experienced by all warriors irrespective of ethnicity.

Remaining in a dark place Shani Dickins’ trio Demi God Half Human (excerpt) is very, very scary. Some thoughtfully chosen vocabulary gripping my attention and leading off somewhere into the midst of alien meets exorcist in an Hieronymus Bosch garden of earthly delights and horrors.

And so to the duets, the first of which, Two.gether is choreographed and danced by Xin Ji and Chancy Rattanong. Accomplished technical performances retain a steely contained strength in a well-balanced and evenly paced composition with a sense of implicit understanding between the two.

Chelsea Baxter and Ellen Koland assure us that Flee is a duet that we will like, hate and may laugh at. They are only correct about two of the three assertions. This thoughtful, leftfield critique of contemporary dance, particularly well juxtaposed in the programme overall, is a highly amusing, clever statement, articulating some hilarious ‘anti-dance’ propaganda. Baxter’s and Koland’s nuanced performances are pivotal to the success of this dance, as is some of the original movement. Their risky, krumpy grumpiness, amongst other captivating images, is well worth further development.

Some of the six solos take us to more pensive interiors. Man/Made Heaven, danced and choreographed by Jahra Rager is an intensely involving mix of hard hitting poetry and inventively, personal dance vocabulary including some arresting staccato clipped phrasing and use of focus. Another piece that deserves further development.

Erick Beltran’s, Alma Andante brings a quality, darkly lyrical performance in which a host of memories seem to haunt a soul’s journey from every part of the stage space. There seems to be no escape from the past as he covers every corner of the kinesphere.

Espressivo (Melana Khabazi) has a similar virtuosic quality in its performance. The wildness of the free flowing and fascinating movement is captivating – even the hair seems choreographed. Khabazi’s musicality drives this piece. The inventive, fierce, feral movement effectively visualizes the phrasing and melody of the Russian Gypsy music, as well as offering counterpoint. I find myself wondering if this could become a group piece.

Josie Archer’s Virgin Insect takes metamorphosis as its departure point. In a gloomily lit stage, the use of gauze to cover and reveal her face seems to be edging around the notion of shape shifting.

Ula Naulutubutubu-Buliruarua’s Body Party comes from a critical perspective of one who, as with many of the tonight’s dancers and choreographers, has feet in dances from several different cultures. She juggles these seemingly contradictory cultures with a suitable critical distance, skillfully embodying their vastly different demands on the body without compromising them. The foray into the audience confronts us with the problem that she faces. A moment of sending up contemporary dance running is both funny and profound. It seems that critiquing what we do in contemporary dance is risky but can be well worth the effort.

Thinking about different cultures brings me to the final solo and the thought that there maybe could be more in terms of different standalone dance heritages, abilities and ages in this programme. Or is that for another Programme? Anyway, it was refreshing to have a solo from Kathak dancer Monisha Kumar. Although not so much a traditional attacking percussive Kathak, Kumar’s style morphs into the world of Bollywood, and her extremely sparkly costume and lip synchs help us imagine the pertinent extravagance and iconic femininity.

Overall, the use of live music and the dancers’ voices work particularly effectively. The use of props, however, seems underwhelming on the whole as various objects contribute relatively little in the larger scheme of the dances. Use it or lose it?

Perhaps not the mixed bill I’d looked forward to but a real treasure chest of short dances that represent worthwhile investment of the enormous amount of creativity, time and work. Short+Sweet, bringing the ritual of competition thanks to International founder Mark Cleary, seems to inspire choreographers to make works and so makes an important contribution to dance theatre. The producers, director (Lydia Zanetti) and backers are to be congratulated on putting together this event for another year. Also respect to lighting designers, operators and stage managers (Michael Craven, Ruby Reihana-Wilson, Stuart Philips and Max Thompson) who provide an impressive range of possibilities for the numerous works.

— NB  Going through to the Finals: Sophie Follett , Ula Naulutubutubu-Buliruarua, Melana Khabazi and Shani Dickins.

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