Lift Off For Leslie

I NEVER KNEW Townsville dancer, Leslie Brown, who sadly passed away on Christmas Day last year, but if the overwhelming sense of perception and emotional celebration that imbued this entire production is anything to go by, then he must have been really extraordinary.

Leslie Brown was a dancer with Ulysses for some years, and for the past 17 years this company has been staging an annual production with dancers drawn chiefly from the Ann Roberts School of Dance, proving again just what can be – and continues to be – achieved in the Townsville community. 

Artistic Director Jane Pirani lovingly produced this seamless production to celebrate the life, work and personality of this well-remembered member of the adult dance group. As she explained in her programme note: “How could the beautiful Leslie be longer with is? To help us rebound from the incredulity we are celebrating his life of dance. Dance gave Leslie the freedom to fly above adversity and feel the power of joyfulness.” 

The evening was composed of 13 works - old and new - which were connected not only through Leslie either by inspiration or participation, they were presented in such a way that they seemed to all be scenes from a single work. As the common denominator Leslie’s presence was felt in many subtle ways but most noticeably through projections of photographic stills and video – perceptively designed by Andre Reynaud, whose beautiful lighting design augmented the subtlety of the entire presentation.

At times reverential, celebratory, joyful and funny,  the evening began with Pirani’s work Disorient Express, originally created 32 years on Extensions (then a youth dance company in Townsville), and also staged by Queensland Ballet and AIT in Adelaide. This was the second time she had staged this with Ulysses, and it was a perfect beginning with a large projection of train station behind the 15 dancers, complete with photos of Les symbolically boarding and departing.

For her piece, Obesiance, choreographer Nikki Robinson was inspired by the significant of embracing the fleeting nature of life, and the dancers reflected this with an interesting soundscape that included Vivaldi, Tom Odell and Philipp Klein. The work featured an interesting solo from Sabine Calliste.

Dancers on stage - with Les on video in the original production – danced to Balloons by Cassie Sten, followed by Kylie Ball’s Paper Planes, an ethereal symbolic piece featuring 15 dancers in front of a wraithlike skyscape of scudding clouds which occasionally scooped up the paper planes that the dancers threw.

Melissa Wyatt is a long-time dancer with Ulysses who partnered Les many times over the years. Reminiscent of the wonderful Cyd Charisse, she is a joy to watch on stage as she paid tribute to Les with three pieces. In the first half – expertly partnered by the sinuous Dale Reid – an outstanding classical duet If Only We Could, and in the second half a solo piece Never Forget. Performed to the song Never Forget, as sung by Michelle Pfeiffer from the soundtrack of Murder on the Orient Express, this emotive piece saw her share the stage symbolically with a red hatbox performing before multiple projected images of Les in many productions, including many of her dance partnerings.

In the second half she also recreated Frames, a Jane Pirani work in which she had originally partnered Les.

Set to music by Hans Zimmer, Katie Grice’s piece saw ten dancers explore infinite possibilities of life in Life Beyond Earth, while Dane Reid’s Travelling with a Blackbird saw the dancers perform to an eclectic soundscape which joined works by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and even Beyonce. This work was simply a celebration of the joy of dance with the dancers dressed in simple black but all sporting batlike “wings”.

A video of Les performing in Who Am I, a work by created by Jane Pirani was shown – “the last piece that Leslie and I choreographed together”, which was part of a 2023 work about dementia called Thief.

Suzie Searight’s choreography and concepts are always interesting and Standing on the Horizon saw 11 dancers create almost arachnid-like movements and featured an outstanding duet from the two men, Dane Reid and Isaiah de Hoog.  Jarrah Scarsi’s luCid saw the dancers engage with almost robot-like jerkiness as they moved to the techno music, giving way to other styles and even an injection of humour.

The final piece of the night was Cassie Steen’s Leslie, which was an affectionately fitting piece laced with humour, colour and good nature. Set to music by Ludovico Einaudi, it also featured a section danced to Jimmy Durante’s recording of I’ll Be Seeing You.

Clearly this was a work of love and inspired by someone who was part of many lives – both on stage and off – and a fitting and lasting memory.

Review by Trevor Keeling

The top two images are from the performance, while the botttom image is of Leslie Brown