Touch Compass: Maidment Theatre

By BERNADETTE RAE

Touch Compass has a different look on this outing - several different looks, in fact, with the work of four choreographers and of artistic director Catherine Chappell in the programme.

There are new dancers in the ranks as well, including Boiski, the three-legged dog, who comes close to major star status, especially for his post-performance wander through the auditorium, at least on Friday night.

The old magic is there in Chappell's Grace, a stunning duet for Bronwyn Hayward and Maaka, with Hayward suspended in a dramatic swathe of shiny black for a display of aerial dance of great strength, beauty and grace.

Magic is also there in the gorgeous short film Timeless, starring dance doyen Dorothea Ashbridge, Chappell, and talented and beautiful 11-year-old Tess Connell.

They appear, framed in an elegantly layered series of doors and windows provided by the setting in a bunker on North Head, dancing, reminiscing (Ashbridge) and taking it all in (Connell). Timeless is a rare treasure, whimsical and true.

Film is also used to present Union, Boiski's story with Tim Turner, his (one-legged) man, and the full company spectacle, The Picnic, a celebration of green grass, endless sky, and North Head again, which has Touch Compass in joyful mode, sumptuously costumed, with overtones of Fellini.

The exploration on film is great, three times over.

Then there is Moss Patterson's Manawa, a sophisticated and lovely exploration of spirals, with totally beautiful lighting; Sue Cheesman's witty Playing Society's Level Fields; Malia Johnston's Spoke, a spinning tale with deconstructed wheelchairs; and An Aversion to Light, by Kristian Larsen, which is, perhaps appropriately, a bit on the heavy side.

Weaving through this wondrous display is the unique humour of Philip Patston, accompanied by a sign language interpreter so that no one misses out.

The finale piece, This Way Up, goes back to the Touch Compass signature specialty of structured improvisation and aerial spectacle, this time with a theme built around the common old cardboard box. It is fun and fantastic.

You leave wondering if there is anything this brave, beautiful, determined and talented troupe can't do.