Dance / Mettle by Quantum Leap Australia. At The Vault, Fyshwick, until July 26. Reviewed by MICHELLE POTTER.

“It’s time to test your mettle,” says media advertising for the latest production from Quantum Leap Australia.

Mettle, the production, has choreography by Alice Lee Holland and Jack Ziesing, with a soundscape by Sascha Budimski and visuals from Creswick Collective.

The venue is The Vault, often referred to as a “cave” or “concrete bunker” as a result of its somewhat vast, windowless space without any theatrical trappings. But, in fact, it was originally used to store coins, and later beer, and it is an ideal space for immersive productions with the audience usually surrounded on three sides by various aspects of the production.

But rather than having a strongly-felt immersive aspect to it, the production of Mettle was more like watching dancing on a knife’s edge. While the soundscape, the lighting and the changing visuals were there to be noticed, the focus was more on what would happen next. How would the dancers manage what seemed from the beginning to be a challenging situation for them?

Thirteen dancers of varying ages began quietly in a line at the back of the performing space and walked slowly forward. But one by one they fell to the floor and began twisting and turning, standing and falling, separately and then together in various combinations.

The choreography was highly complex and mostly fast-moving with some sections quite acrobatic and others, such as movements of the fingers, quite small but clear and intense.

Groupings in the early stages looked unstructured as bodies seemed to fall on top of each other in a jumble. Some of the connections between dancers, such as a duet between the two male members of the cast, even looked full of hostility.

As the work moved along, however, there were moments when the jumbled look gave way to a structure that was more ordered and even a little symmetrical.

As the end approached, the choreography continued its speed and power and, after a solo by one dancer, a stillness as we had seen at the beginning returned. Had the mettle been tested and had resilience emerged?

Costumes by Aleisa Jelbart were the strongest collaborative element. Jelbart had created 13 different designs, one for each dancer. They consisted of black and grey items – tops, pants (some short, some long), socks and leggings, arm coverings and other elements. Some looked grungy and torn, others fashionable in a present-day style. They added an excellent element to the production and to the diversity of the dancers, a diversity of age, size and experience.

Mettle was a production that must have been quite exhausting for the dancers. It was an hour of almost continuous movement from every dancer. They attacked the choreography, with its continuing and spectacular twists and turns, and its ongoing interpersonal connections, with determination and skill.

They demonstrated clearly that dancing on a knife’s edge has a strength and ultimately an influence on an audience.

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