Dance / Resonance, James Batchelor + Collaborators. At the Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre, until October 11. Reviewed by MICHELLE POTTER.

Choreographer James Batchelor has a particular interest in how approaches to dance are passed down from generation to generation.

Canberra audiences caught a glimpse of that interest relatively recently in 2023 with Batchelor’s production, Short Cuts to Familiar Places. 

Resonance continues that interest. It focuses on the legacy of the late dancer and choreographer, Tanja Liedtke, who was tragically killed in 2007 just as she was about to take on the directorship of Sydney Dance Company.

Batchelor’s work is never straightforward and in fact it creates a multitude of potential meanings, both as his works progress and after the show is over. Resonance began with members of the cast, in particular those who had worked with or known Liedtke in some way, taking a microphone and delivering short comments (sometimes difficult to hear clearly unfortunately) on their impressions of her and her work. 

Slowly the rest of the cast rose from where they were seated on the floor of the Courtyard Studio and began to dance. The movement was slow, curved and liquid in its flow. But, as the work progressed, individual comments became a kind of second section – a conversation between various dancers – and the movement became faster and more dramatic (and perhaps a little too long). 

In a third and final section in the development of Resonance, the verbal comments ceased and the choreography became stronger, and even more dramatic and powerful. At times the choreography was quite static and danced by just a small group until the final moments when the full cast filled the Courtyard space with determined, fast, furious and individualistic movement. 

Various media comments about Resonance have suggested that Batchelor’s choreography for the work is meditative. But it wasn’t the choreography that was meditative, it was the development of Batchelor’s thoughts about Liedtke that had that particular quality. Those thoughts moved from Batchelor’s initial speculations about her approach to his final feeling that her legacy was a powerful addition to dance in Australia.

As far as the choreography was concerned, I wondered whether some of it was improvisation, and also how much of it came from Batchelor and how much from the dancers themselves. It was highly individualistic, sometimes even uncanny in its structure. It always seemed to reflect the particular skills of each dancer rather than those of a single choreographer. 

I was especially impressed by the dancer Anton who was totally and utterly involved throughout, whether he was performing dancerly movement or an occasional series of gymnastic-style steps (such as push-ups). 

A driving score from Morgan Hickinbotham gave the work added strength. Costumes designed by one of the dancers, Theo Clinkard, left me wondering a little. I’m not sure why they were a combination of daytime leisure gear with translucent chiffon-style drapes added occasionally.

I didn’t know Liedtke or her work but Resonance suggests to me that she was highly unconventional, perhaps even enigmatic in her approaches to dance. Resonance was like a wake-up call encouraging us to look further into her background and approach.