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Natasha Rogai

Lucie in the Sky is an award-winning show from Australia that was presented by Hong Kong’s East Kowloon Cultural Centre (EKCC) as part of its grand opening season.
In keeping with the centre’s mission to pioneer the creative use of technology in the arts, the piece by the Australasian Dance Collective (ADC) features six human dancers interacting with five drones.
The tiny drones – seen by the audience as lights floating in the air – are beautifully choreographed and interact elegantly with the dancers.
The piece is undoubtedly impressive, combining technology with dance. The dance itself, on the other hand, is disappointing – the concept may be imaginative, but the choreography is not.

Under its former identity as the Expressions Dance Company, ADC has long-time connections with Hong Kong: its founding artistic director, Maggie Sietsma, was dean of dance at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and her successor, Natalie Weir, has created a number of works for Hong Kong companies.
Lucie in the Sky was created in 2023 by the company’s current artistic director, Amy Hollingsworth, in collaboration with Verity Studios, which has provided drones for shows by acts including Cirque du Soleil and Celine Dion.
Hollingsworth is a helicopter pilot as well as a choreographer, so flying machines, albeit small ones in this case, are no problem for her. Her stated aim with the production is to explore how we coexist with technology and “whether we can design a future that honours both humanity and innovation”.
According to the house programme, each cast member – human or drone – has a name and a set of characteristics: for example, one female dancer is The Caregiver, protective/compassionate/thoughtful; one of the drones is Skip – The Jester, playful/charismatic/cheeky/irrepressible. In practice, it is hard to identify which character, human or drone, is which.

There is a succession of scenes in which individual dancers interact with individual drones, punctuated by moments where they come together as a group, freezing into tableaux enhanced by striking lighting effects. But the choreography lacks continuity and coherence and there is relatively little actual dance – the male dancers produce some athletic tumbling moves and barrel jumps, but even these are quite disconnected sequences of steps.
One of the more intriguing encounters, between a female dancer and the blue drone (Rue – The Sage, melancholic/wise/contemplative), appears to be about grief and loss. Another features the purple drone (Lucie – The Friend), which did indeed appear to be making friends with another female dancer.
However, the piece ends with the same pair apparently in a very different position – the human girl cowers on the ground when Lucie approaches her and at the end lies flat on her back, apparently dead, while Lucie sails serenely over her.
The concept of anthropomorphising drones is dubious – people whose privacy is invaded by the use of drones, or those living in war zones where drones rain down death and destruction every day, are unlikely to see them as cute technological companions.
Perhaps in reference to this is a scene that is suggestive of the use of drones in warfare: a dancer runs around in terror, looking up at the sky.

Ultimately, it is not clear what we are supposed to take from all this. Is Hollingsworth saying that technology can be our friend, but also a source of danger? If so, this is certainly true, but scarcely a revelation.
In any case, these particular drones are innocently entertaining – in fact, the floating lights interacting with people are irresistibly reminiscent of Tinkerbell in Peter Pan – and the way they join the humans for the curtain call was particularly charming.
“Australasian Dance Collective: Lucie in the Sky”, The Hall, East Kowloon Cultural Centre. Reviewed: December 20.


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Arts

The Australasian Dance Collective’s show is an imaginative combination of technology and dance but the choreography is disappointing


The Australasian Dance Collective’s show is an imaginative combination of technology and dance but the choreography is disappointing.


World of performing arts

East Kowloon Cultural Centre

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Australasian Dance Collective’s show is an imaginative combination of technology and dance but the choreography is disappointing

The Australasian Dance Collective’s show is an imaginative combination of technology and dance but the choreography is disappointing