On Saturday the 4th of May, we closed our latest production, Ours featuring the ADC Impact Ensemble. We knew this production was going to be a very different experience for ADC, our dancers and audiences alike, but little did we know how special this production would become. The live music, dancer’s passion, choreographers’ talent, the beautiful venues and the efforts of the entire team culminated in a truly unforgettable and emotional experience.
The Cast and Choreographer of Abbey O’Donnell’s “Nexus”
The ADC Impact Ensemble once again have done an incredible job performing Ours, it was a real pleasure to work with founding members Aj Armstrong, Sarah Glynne, Victoria Hadfield, Elyssa Mahr and Abbey O’Donnell were back fresh from the 2018 season of Transience, with Ellen Robinson returning to choreograph an original work. We are so proud to watch the amazing growth of these wonderful performers, and be moved by their performances in the show.
While Lucy Abramovitch, Caitlin Mathieson, Rebecca Nutter and Madison Pratt were on leave, we had some amazing temporary Impact Ensemble members performing in Ours: Megan Breguet, Tara O’Donnell, Monique Powe and Xavier Robertson. We’re extremely thankful for the contribution of these dancers, who came into an established group and worked hard to produce some brilliant work.
We are especially proud of the members of the Impact Ensemble members who choreographed their own works for this production, many making their choreographic debut, and most working in-the-round for the first time. Aj’s piece Pioneers told an inspirational story, and made a great opening to the show. Megan’s work Captive shared a personal story and was a moving duo. Sarah shared her piece We Are Only What We Always Were (affectionately called “WAOWWAW” or “wow-wow”) which explored themes from The Crucible and compared them to our current time. Roxanne by Ellen explored the life of a woman who’s friends bring her back from a difficult time. Recollection by Elyssa reminisced on three of her relationships and pondered if we own those memories or if are they shared. Xavier Robertson brought us Women’s Realm, one of the happier pieces of the show, while Xavier McGettigan’s The Time We Have started sweetly but struck the audience with an emotional twist. Abbey’s Nexus brought the show to a very strong close and was her first time choreographing with a group.
Our band consisted of two talented musicians and three incredible singers. Anthony Farrugia played guitar and is a new face to ADC, his expertise was greatly appreciated and his playing was beautiful. Jayla McLennan played keys, and while she is also a new face, our Director/Musical Director/Choreographer Xavier McGettigan has worked with Jayla on numerous other projects and it was a great pleasure as always. Our male singers, Charlie McIntyre and Joshua McGuane shared the seasons between one another, and both brought different aspects to the show. Charlie’s performance was polished and controlled, and his professional vocal qualities lent a great emotional quality to the work. Josh’s powerful vocals and vulnerability gave a strong, raw energy to the music. Emily Jacker-Lawrence has performed for Attitude in the past, but her recent training and experience has shone in Ours, tackling an enormous variety of genres and some memorably challenging pieces of music seeming effortless. The band only undertook a few rehearsals before the performance season with Xavier, but went above and beyond with their generosity, practice and performances.
The Cast and Choreographer of Xavier McGettigan’s “The Time We Have”
We loved working at our three venues, Courthouse Youth Arts in Geelong, the Bluestone Church Arts Space in Footscray and the Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute in Ballarat. Thanks to Ilana, Travis, Vivian, David and Sam for being so welcoming to your spaces, and for making our jobs so easy as hirers.
A huge thank you needs to go to our Front of House team, Janette Shaw, Fiona Smith, Mhairi Reid and Kerry Hobbs for volunteering your time, energy and enthusiasm. They were all so helpful and worked very hard to ensure that the experience was a smooth and enjoyable one for all of our patrons. This crew and all the performers were amazing in joining forces to make our bump ins/bump outs as smooth and efficient as possible, all pitching in to carry, organise and courier our stock and equipment.
Jayson Fry is our organisational and tech extraordinaire, and the show wouldn’t have run without his expertise. He would jump into FOH roles as needed, and ran both our live audio and lighting as well as keeping us running on time as Stage Manager and having a calming effect on the entire team. Thank you for everything, Jayson!
And lastly, we thank ADC director Xavier McGettigan brought us together from concept, scheduling, rehearsals, choreographing his own piece, arranging music, conducting the band and playing silly songs for warm ups. Thank you Xavier for bringing the ADC Family on stage yet again.
What’s next, yous ask? Surely a big rest and break? Of course not! Most of our team are involved with the next ADC production Dear Diary, which has already undertaken two weeks of rehearsal after a single day’s break from the show. On Saturday the 25th of May we celebrate the huge milestone of 10 Years of Attitude, where we’ll look back on previous performances and long-term dance friendships. The ADC Impact Ensemble return to rehearsals for their next work, Fantasy on the 26th May, more details to come.
Watch this space for more news about upcoming shows and events, and we hope to see you soon!