Melbourne Reviews

Cambridge dictionary defines melancholy as “sadness that lasts for a long period of time, often without any obvious reason”. If you’re a quibbler, you might find that the movement-based Melancholia, the first show by Studio Stocks, could have presented itself in a manner that better reflects its stated motivation, and virtues.

There’s plenty of silent, restless and melancholic behaviour happening on the stage as the audience files into the venue. Maybe the cause was the parade of plastic-wrapped snack foods that would obnoxiously crinkle through much of the ensuing 50-minute performance? (If so, that’s more than fair.)

Costuming occurs in variations of neutral tones and navy blue across the ensemble. This is neat, but certainly not cheery attire. It causes the assemblage of performers to look … not exactly uniformed … but like something of a team, for reasons not entirely clear. Pre-show melancholy dissolves pretty quickly as the performers tap dance with each other, with very good synchronisation, sometimes seeming to quite enjoy themselves …

Across the scenes, men dance with women, men dance with men, women dance with women. The talent is clear, and yet the tapping approaches the predictable at times. Could it be due to the lack of variation in the tempo of the tapping, or of the recorded musical backing? Is it that the pattern of dancers tapping in unison, or one taking the lead with others coordinating around them, starts to feel a bit samey?

Maybe it is because, unlike other high-profile acts from Riverdance through to Tap Dogs, this work is often not so effective in establishing characters. Those notable acts also, through devices such as runs of tapping across formations of dancers, had a visual and sonic novelty of the kind that would have elevated the performance here.

Some attendees might have felt perplexed that the show wasn’t quite what we were promised. Consider words from a press release by company artistic director Garry Stocks: “As a former dancer with The Australian Ballet Company, my journey through a life-changing injury led me to rediscover tap dance as a powerful medium for healing and artistic expression.”

Grieving about being separated from your artform (and maybe a large part of your identity) is rather more specific than some generalised melancholy. Yet, as we see here, from loss we can find new perspectives.

Forced by circumstance or not, when Melancholia gave us a scene with innovation, it was substantially more effective. As a routine combined Stocks’ tapping [I think this was Stocks, I wasn’t given a programme] with the grace of a female ballet dancer, there were variations in tempo and mood. The strength and supple movement achieved some compelling moments. Seeing the combination of old and newer interests felt like watching someone find a salve for their bruised soul.

This success suggests that the company will achieve a good return from further efforts to find the emotional core of what they present. It will also be helpful to interrogate some production choices, to ensure that these are working to enhance the presentation of the company’s substantial technical ability.