Carriageworks, November 22

StoryPlace is this year’s offering from NAISDA Dance College in which the focus is on two young Indigenous choreographers and the range of creative talents nurtured by this three-year intensive course in performance.

Frances Rings has directed an energetic program of dance that spans traditional to hip-hop, but is mostly contemporary in the international language of dance.

Bittersweet is choreographed by Deborah Brown, formerly a leading performer with Bangarra Dance Theatre. She tackles a challenging subject: the human body and how it is affected by what it is fed, not only physically but mentally. She brings to the task her developing skills in film direction, which provide a memorable opening sequence, and uses the ensemble well, especially in tight-knit groups.

Louise Potiki Bryant, a New Zealand choreographer of Maori descent, outlines a fascinating and complex story behind her work, Kapehu (Compass). The actual performance of a sequence from it is less clear, with a sameness about the whirling and waving movement of the 11 performers. Their costumes accentuate the restless action, which was well sustained by the dancers.

Among the graduating students, Kallum Goolagong displays welcome technical talents and unwanted self-consciousness in his solo, Yesterday Dreams for Tomorrow’s Passions. He also wrote the music for it, as did Amy Flannery for My Version of a Heartbeat, one of three pieces to which she contributed useful choreography, the other two with Aroha Pehi. Emily Flannery and Gusta Mara also wrote music for their pieces, Ego and Unwritten Story, which says a lot about the way the college encourages the abilities of its students.

While there is nothing that jumps out of StoryPlace as a leap to instant fame, the mood and collective quality of the production make the program of 12 items an enjoyable experience. And it is good to have the thoughtful celebration of traditional dance at the end: to see the respect it is still given and know it is there as a base for all the new dance to come.

Until November 24.