QL2 Dance presents

hot to trot

young choreographers program

November 2023

CHOREOGRAPHERS

Arshiya Abmishree, Calypso Efkarpidis, Charlie Thomson, Emily Smith, Jahna Lugnan, Julia Villaflor and Maya Wille-Bellchambers.

MENTORS

Ruth Osborne, Emma Batchelor and Alice Lee Holland

YUMMY

13-14 October 2023

The Chaos Project celebrates the creative eco-system of QL2 Dance. It is an exciting exchange of creative energy that inspires every member of the team, from our freshest QL2 artists to our most … “seasoned!”

COMMUNICATE

18–20 MAY 2023

A triple bill created by choreographers Alice Lee Holland (Townsville), Kyall Shanks (Melbourne) and Lordfai Navinda Pachimsawat (Bangkok) working closely with Artistic Director Ruth Osborne, Assistant to the Artistic Director Stephen Gow and our Quantum Leap ensemble.

Everything we say, everything we do, brings us back to communication, whether intentional or not. Communicating in spoken or written words, through facial expressions, signs, images and movements. We communicate meaning, intentions, ideas, who we are, what we want. We ‘say’ it loudly, quietly, subtly, through contact, connections, technology, images. So much goes unnoticed, unspoken, but somehow still felt, and thus somehow communicated.

Overload of information, miscommunication, misunderstanding through cultural differences, socio-economic backgrounds, gender. So many times we communicate something different to what we want, what we feel, who we are, as the language codes are forever imperfect and forever different.

The language of dance holds a special place in this communication world. A language that is felt in the body and soul a lot more than it is understood with the head. A place where emotions and connections are communicated differently, raw and unspoken.

With Communicate, enter the communication world of the next generation.

Intersecting Journeys

'ALUMNI' & 'MEETING PLACE' premiered at the National Film and Sound Archives in November 2022​: two new dance films by Sue Healey​ produced by QL2 Dance on behalf of Youth Dance Australia with the support of the Australia Council for the Arts. Meeting Place – 8 Australian youth dance companies sharing common practices, 4 meeting places to connect, create, collaborate. Alumni – 16 renowned Australian dance artists who began their creative journeys in youth dance companies.

BIG LITTLE THINGS

Chaos project 2022

From the infinitely small to the infinitely big. An exploration into our interconnectedness, how little things, small actions can have an impact on everything else, on the big picture, on our lives.

Five choreographers, 7 works and 39 young dance artists collaborated together to create 'Big Little Things'. And many hours of sharing ideas and rehearsals to bring it to the stage.

'Big Little Things' explores our interconnectedness in so many ways. We draw on examples of how little things or small actions can have an impact on everything else, on the big picture, on our lives. In nature, science, society, history and in human behaviour we see how the infinitely small grows and spreads to the infinitely big.

Connecting Stories: Generations

National Portrait Gallery

A YGen to IGen Across Borders project by QL2 Dance, Australian Dance Party and Catapult Choreographic Hub inspired by the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition 'Shakespeare to Winehouse'

We invite you to feel, think and be kinaesthetically engaged with the subjects in the exhibition, these influential people in our world and across time that have shaped it, and the incredible ways artists capture their essence.

Artistic Directors: Ruth Osborne, Alison Plevey & Cadi McCarthy
Choreographers: Ruth Osborne, Cadi McCarthy, Alison Plevey, Craig Bary & Olivia Fyfe
With dancers from QL2 Dance, the Australian Dance Party, Catapult Dance, QL2's Quantum Leap ensemble and Catapult's Flipside Project.
Composer: Adam Ventoura

Quantum Leap 2022 Terra Firma

26-28 May 2022

Canberra Theatre Centre

Terra Firma, 3 works, 3 perspectives, exploring the diverse ways we perceive our changing world.

Melanie Lane explores the relationship between body, objects, and our built environment. Within a world in which we navigate excess, constructs and algorithms, her work Metal Park contemplates how we have become a part of the material world in which we operate and questions our desire for material necessity. Traversing through a choreography of meditation, resistance and collision, Metal Park unfolds the ways in which we both harness and negotiate our constructed habitat.

In Tides of Time, Steve & Lilah Gow (Crossroads Movement) investigate our relationship with time in an era of constant change; how we project ourselves in the future or live in the past, exploring ways to remain in the present, onto solid ground, to fulfill our lives.

Cadi McCarthy’s Shifting Ground explores the physicality of solid ground as a concept, embodying the strength and connection that holds us to our world in these uncertain times.

rebel: then.now.when?

As our world is transformed dramatically and events are unfolding that had been foretold but the warnings unheard, how do we find the way forward? Who will lead us all? We have looked for answers and inspiration in our past, in this era when activism brought deep changes in the world and reflected on the present, on the how and when and what. REBEL

Then.
There is courage, strength and a creative tempest in our collective roots from which to gather the inspiration we need to create our tomorrow and face our challenges.

Now.
From the past to the present we draw our combined strength to unite and write a different story, one with empathy for all humans and a will to lead the changes we need together.

When?
We need major societal changes and we need it now. We want to rise and have our collective voices heard and we want to make lasting and sustainable changes for future generations.

Artistic Director Ruth Osborne
Assistant to AD Steve Gow
Choreographers Jack Ziesing, Jodie Farrugia, Ruth Osborne & Steve Gow
The Quantum Leap ensemble
Composer Adam Ventoura
Film Wildbear Digital

My Place - QL2 at the National Portrait Gallery - January 2021

A work by Ruth Osborne in close collaboration with seven recent tertiary dance graduates in response to the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition “This is my place”. 

“My Place” begins with a series of intimate solos defining each of the dancers’ creative spaces in “My Studio”. The dancers are then drawn together in a reflection of their origins and connection to the landscape in “My Country”. The work culminates in a coming together of their collective stories in “My Street”.  

Composer: Adam Ventoura

Leap into Chaos - Canberra College Theatre - October 2021

“Sympathetic Monsters”
Quantum Leap ensemble - It is the fear of the unknown that makes us see mounters where there are differences and uniqueness that bring balance and beauty to the world.

“Touch”
Touch colours our interactions with others in so many positive and sometimes negative ways. Positive interactions and touch refills the soul and the heart, it connects us with others. Touch is a profound need for all human beings and its language is unique.

Choreographers: Jack Ziesing, Alison Plevey, Olivia Fyfe and Ryan Stone under the artistic direction of Ruth Osborne in collaboration with the dancers.
Composer: Adam Ventoura

International Dance Day 2020 - Message in Motion

To celebrate International Dance Day a collective of Canberra Dance Artists present 'Message in Motion' in response to the 2020 IDD message by Gregory Vuyani Maqoma.

Composer: Adam Ventoura
Video Editing: Olivia Fyfe

YGen to IGen - Art Not Apart festival 2020

14 March 2020

Ygen to Igen was created in response to the festivals theme of 'Today I, Tomorrow you' reflecting upon our fears, hopes and imaginings of our future. A collaboration between QL2 Dance and our company in residence Australian Dance Party.

Choreographers: Ruth Osborne, Alison Plevey, Steve Gow, Olivia Fyfe, Alana Stenning and Ryan Stone.

Filling the space
Quantum Leap at the Playhouse 2019

Our Quantum Leap Ensemble explored the dynamic relationship of body and architecture. Breaking open the frames and borders that guide our movement in and out of space/s and playfully manipulating our emotional relationship to them. The theatre stage became a world of potential, of space filling and emptying, of new cosmic dances.

Choreographers: Ruth Osborne, James Batchelor and Eliza Sanders under the artistic direction of Ruth Osborne.
Composers: Adam Ventoura & Morgan Hickinbotham
Film: Wildbear Entertainment

Two Zero
Quantum Leap at the Playhouse 2018

Two Zero - A celebration of 20 years of the Quantum Leap youth dance ensemble.
Choreographers: Alison Plevey, Daniel Riley, Dean Cross, Eliza Sanders, Fiona Malone, Jodie Farrugia, Ruth Osborne, Sara Black, Steve Gow under the artistic direction of Ruth Osborne.
Composers: Adam Ventoura & Warwick Lynch
Film: Wildbear Entertainment