Speak Dance

This PIAF, immediately after choreographing Mechanic in the Fringe World double bill, Two Times, Brooke Leeder took on an acting role in the Russian Production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (As You Like It). “I was one of what they called supernumeraries,” Leeder explains. “It was about 15 minutes into the show; we would come in and I sat on stage with the Russian actors. And then we interjected the show at certain points. There were certain things we had to do at certain points. So it was sort of a show within a show.”

This was a good 180 degree spin from Mechanic, a piece based on pure dance with no dramatic content – just eight dancers, complex special structures and the language of body, form and movement. “I was honestly quite surprised with how well it was received,” Leeder admits.

As the title suggests, the movement became mechanically repetitive towards the end of the piece. “I knew that I just loved watching it. And the response was similar. They were saying it was relentless and mesmerising at the same time.”

For the Independent Theatre Festival, Leeder is doing something different again. Dancers Speak Volumes is a dance theatre piece with elements reminiscent of her Fringe World piece, but here the dancers speak – most unusual in the dancing world. “I still have these moments in the work where the movement is quite repetitive and intricate, yet we're using text, which I've never done before. I wanted to be really clear with this piece, and I thought that using text really does make contemporary dance more accessible to a wider audience. And being a theatre festival, I thought this would be the perfect piece for a theatre audience.”

Dialogue in dance is a sin only when it's done badly, insists Leeder. Dancers are physically very highly trained, but are now receiving vocal training as dance theatre works come out. And it's that diversification in training that's making it work. Leeder calls her piece The Sorry Dance, the story based on a trip she made to London, where she spent three weeks alone. “I found myself saying just one word all the time, which of course is 'Sorry, sorry, sorry,' because you're just bumping into people. And I was just, 'Wow, after three weeks on my own, I feel like that's the only word that I've said.'”

This combination of dance with other forms is becoming more common in Perth. Dance is becoming more experimental at the same time as it's becoming accessible, something Leeder is keen to tap into. Dancers Speak Volumes is a very playful piece, laced with humour and malleable in its physicality. The dancers tease and fall over each other in dynamic interplay. “I want to entertain people. I want it to be an enjoyable evening for people – that they're walking away with a smile, that something has resonated with the audience.”