NEW FICTION BY JERZY BEAUMONT

Excerpts from verse novella Errant Night, part one: Under Darker Skies

(Twinkling stars aren’t special; just wasted energy warped by atmospheric fluctuations.) ----Canberrans talk about two things in winter: Seasonal Affective Disorder and how grateful we’ll be come summer. Next time; this time. I have the sun in my bones. A craving for warmth unsatisfied by tinder. Matches. Walter Burley Griffin designed incinerators. And Canberra. The difference lies in the brickwork. Detail. Speak of the archaeology of absence, and even the ash is disturbed. This isn’t a little Sydney or an outer-outer Melbourne. I’m a fire sign, a greedy summer tan. But winter here is cold, getting colder.

Everything is detail. I’m not dead, but my autopilot days are cold. Functional. August’s grey snow is mostly dust and routine. Speckled milestones posted online. Melt away. I feel something, sometimes. Tattoo needles. Scalding coffee. Hangovers. I taste almost every meal consumed. I know I’m SAD, but depression is my heart’s armour. Rusted shut. ----Terrans have only one territory beyond our solar system. 4.24 light-years from home lies Proxima Centauri b. Barren, mostly. Terraforming was largely unsuccessful, but the lone triumph houses the port city of Narcissau. Located within a massive crater, Narcissau is an upended toybox; a cubist favela of imperma-housing and bolted on architectural addendums.

Docks line the rim above, linked by spiralling wallbound shuttle to city floor. Narcissau buzzes as if a beehive in a cob loaf. To entrepreneurial dismay, extra-terrestrial life cared little for most trinkets of Earth. Most. They love our shipping containers. We learned to specialize without hubris. Traffic wholesale and hollow. Narcissau became the ironsided hub of trade. FIFO workers commuting across the void. ----I thought I had found a deserter. Abnormalities plucked from a deep space scan, but upon approach I discovered a planet bejewelled. Ablaze with not fire. Not-fire. Alighted. The surface was kneedeep in silicate bones. Opalised; the not-fire visible from space. I come from a land down under the boots of mining magnates and opportunistic narratives. Sanctioned piracy. Beauty in pressure. I drink vision, pay small change respects. Leave the dead to shine.

Without regular use, the dust in my throat chokes and the hinges of my jaw squeak. My roommate is iron-stoic. Poor conversationalist. I wish I could say I built an AI, but I’m a lousy programmer. (I bought a kit online. Soldered on.) I don’t crave conversation, but the dust accumulates. I’ll admit to the dark outside that I treasure most the silence between pithy sparks. To name is to limit, so Lexic Onthedash will keep our relationship professional. Wired into the dashboard radiophone, tasked with trawling for pop hits and comm calls. (What do you know, L.O., L.O.?) Nobody calls. My number is a closely guarded secret. (‘ello, ‘ello?) ----I have seen a hundred thousand worlds since my convalescence. With every system jump, time hiccups back, and I arrive the day before I left. I am older than I look. I am the tired that endures. Countless wonders wash over me. I feel something, sometimes. I am the autopilot. A fleet follows me now; crewed by the accretion of worlds passed. I traded my ex-employer’s ship in, up, on and on. I miss my first ship; nostalgia is a rare pang reminding me reminding reminding I was. I am what was. My latest vessel is a sleek whisper half a mile long, leaping solar systems under breath. All my teeth are anew. I am what was has become. I have climbed to the top without cheer. My hands quake but show no fault lines. I think I think I was looking for something. Opal bones. Rogue stars. What was now is. I come from a world of material fixation and incoherence.

----Fall. Strike satellite. Plummet and rattle. A panel falls off a wing, slicing through the air as sycamore seed. A shuriken spiking Lake George’s bed, to rest in silver glow and soil plume. I am a nosedive; an abrupt halt. A beautiful moon hangs over the turbines. I never did find my Medicare card. Never did find the light. -----

Jerzy Beaumont’s excellent Errant Night is available now from Recent Work Press for a mere $19.95.

Jerzy Beaumont’s work has appeared in publications such as Cicerone Journal, Australian Poetry Journal 8.2, The Dirty Thirty Anthology, BITE Magazine, The Canberra Times, Hobo Camp Review, Cordite 93: PEACH, NO NEWS, and more.

A graduate of UC’s Bachelor of Writing, he represented the ACT at the Australian Poetry Slam finals in 2017, and has performed his poetry throughout Australia and the USA. This is his first book.

recentworkpress.com/books/product/errant-night

DANCE OF REBELLION

By Josh Eckersley

This month QL2 Dance are returning to the Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse to present their highly anticipated show REBEL: THEN. NOW. WHEN? We spoke to artistic director Ruth Osborne about the Quantum Leap ensemble behind the project, and the challenges they’ve faced in bringing REBEL to life.

The QL2 Dance company has a fascinating history in the Canberra dance community, existing and evolving in various forms for over 20 years. Originally part of the Australian Choreographic Centre, changes to funding resulted in the formation of QL2 Dance in 2007, which was developed primarily to continue growing all of the established and esteemed youth dance programs.

The ever-present Ruth Osborne has remained a constant fixture throughout, serving as a guiding beacon in the precarious waters of contemporary youth dance in Australia. Wearing many hats as she tirelessly works to support an endless run of young artists, she gives us a glimpse of what it takes to keep things moving forward: “My role here involves everything, like overseeing all the programs, developing the Quantum Leap project each year, and doing some of the choreography… so it’s a big, beautiful job really.”

One of the most renowned of their current dance programs is the Quantum Leap ensemble, which focuses on developing young dancers aged 14 to 21 years, in an intensive six-month-plus journey towards a major performance. This year their project is called REBEL: THEN. NOW. WHEN, and explores the uncertainty of today’s world by looking through the lens of our past and future. Where activism and social rebellion have successfully brought positive change to society in the past, the question is raised of how we can again find the strength to bring about greatly needed change in these uncertain times.

As Ruth explains it: “The idea behind REBEL is about acknowledging from the past, from the ‘60s and ‘70s, the amazing amount of activism and protests that went on in that era, and what was achieved and what developed over that time. We’ve been looking at that historically and contrasting that with today and what the issues are now. What are the movements that are happening and what do we have to call out now? For the young people involved, it’s about understanding their rich history and not taking everything for granted... it is also about leadership. Who do we follow, and what do we believe in? When do we stand up for what we believe in?”

It is clear Ruth is very passionate about the subject matter and supports the young artists in actively participating in many aspects of the project, from decision-making to contributing creatively.

“We take about seven months to develop a project,” she says, “so we go into it very deeply and it’s very much a collaboration with the young people, so everybody’s involved with it and not just being taught steps. We look at different subjects that will make a difference to young people. It’s not about telling them how to think, it’s giving them the opportunity to discuss, research and make up their own minds. We feel it’s important to have a subject that can make a difference to them, and when audiences see committed, talented young people on stage, really believing in what they are doing and saying with their bodies, they will be inspired by that as well.”

Originally slated for a 2020 release, the performance had to be rescheduled last year, due to the impacts of Covid-19. Ruth tells us: “REBEL was something that we started last year before the pandemic hit. We decided we wouldn’t try and finish it then; we will do it this year instead. So, it’s been a bit of a challenge, but it’s been great.”

Given the entire industry is reliant on physical connection and touch between dancers, the overall impacts of the pandemic on the dance community have been overwhelming. Despite this, out of necessity, some adaptation and innovation in the face of adversity has helped QL2 weather the storm and come back even stronger. Ruth recalls:

“It was devastating, as I’m sure it was for a lot of people. Certainly, in our industry, it’s been terrible. We went online completely. We had started REBEL, had auditioned the dancers and were doing our Sunday rehearsals (when Covid-19 hit), so we went online. We Zoomed, with everyone dancing at home, filming stuff and sending it in to us. It was difficult but I’m incredibly proud of everyone, of my staff and the teachers for adapting the way they did. We managed to get through.”

Photos: Lorna Sim

Thankfully we won’t have to wait much longer to see these young stars up on stage. REBEL: THEN. NOW. WHEN is showing at The Playhouse, 20-22 May. Tickets from $28 + bf via the venue.

THE IMPERMANENCE OF ALL THINGS

By Josh Eckersely

The Sydney Dance Company are set to unleash their latest work at the Canberra Theatre Centre in June. We spoke to their world-renowned Artistic Director/ Choreographer Rafael Bonachela about his newest creation, the incomparable work, Impermanence.

So rarely will an artist come along at precisely the right time to portray a subject so eerily relevant that it serves to hold a mirror to the modern human experience. Somehow, they manage to capture our thoughts, fears and vulnerabilities within their art, and in doing so they captivate our collective minds with something so relatable that its far-reaching appeal is undeniable.

The artist I’m referring to is Rafael Bonachela of the Sydney Dance Company. The work is Impermanence, and it is coming to Canberra, briefly. Hailing from the small town of La Garriga, near Barcelona, Spain, Bonachela was born in the fading shadow of the Franco dictatorship, which had gripped the country for more than 30 years. Following his downfall was somewhat of a cultural revolution that suited the young Bonachela’s passion for dance. “I always loved dancing, but I didn’t even know at the time that it was called choreography. I had never been to a ballet or a dance company. There was no dance school in my town either. I just always loved dancing. It’s something that felt very natural to me. I was born under Franco, the fascist ruling, but from when I was born to now, Spain is a very different country. Spain now enjoys and appreciates culture and music and dance… I was the first generation of what became an incredibly open-minded, forward-thinking culture, but it had been in the dark for a long time.” After training in Barcelona, Bonachela moved to London to further study dance. Over a 20-year period he honed his craft and eventually founded his own company before being invited to Sydney in 2008 as a guest choreographer with the Sydney Dance Company. It was here as the Artistic Director that he established an artistic vision and identity for the company that was unique and different to anything else around the world. Bonachela recalls: “At first I thought, I’ve got my company in London and it’s taken me 20 years to set myself up, but after a couple of months being in Sydney and getting to know the company, I realised the potential of what I could do with the Sydney Dance Company… Over the last 12 years I’ve really focused on showcasing the best of contemporary choreography to Australian audiences and audiences around the world.”

The Sydney Dance Company remain at the forefront of modern dance with their latest full-length work, Impermanence, which is described as a visceral and thrilling exploration of the juxtaposition of beauty and devastation. Bonachela conceived the idea for Impermanence and brought the show to life alongside the acclaimed composer Bryce Dessner, best known as the guitarist from Grammy award-winning rock band The National, and for his film scores for The Revenant and The Two Popes. Inspired by the tragedies of the Notre-Dame fire in Paris and the recent Australian bushfires, Impermanence promises to be a breathtaking journey into the transitory qualities of humanity. As Bonachela explains: “Impermanence is a philosophical concept of change; the title reflects on the ephemeral nature of life. It was conceived from a conversation with the composer Bryce Dessner, in Paris in 2019, about the fire in Notre-Dame. We were reflecting on how easily things fall apart, like Notre-Dame, that had been there for hundreds of years. Structures that you’d imagine would be there forever, eternal, but are not. There was also the fragility and impermanence of human life, the planet, and human relationships. When talking about that it felt like the perfect subject for live performance, which itself is in the moment and fleeting.” Then, in late 2019, with the music-writing process underway, the Australian bushfires raged through many parts of the country, impacting both artists in a deep way. Bonachela recalls the impact on Dessner’s writing process. “He had a real connection with Australia. He had friends that had to be evacuated and that really affected him. Out of that he created these incredible pieces of music which are full of emotional power and are epic, raw, and poignant.” Originally slated to open in March last year, audiences can now finally experience this show, performed live on stage by 17 incredible dancers, together with the Australian String Quartet. The excitement and gratitude of this momentous occasion are not lost on Bonachela, who is hopeful and positive about the future of dance, of art, and of humanity. “It’s all been so crazy in the last year but for me, the awareness of the impermanence of everything has become even more real. I feel that I must seize every moment and that every moment counts. To be present and to be living in the moment is what gives me energy and what gives me hope… “We have all shared this trauma and humanity has experienced something over the last 12 months that we’ve never experienced before. I think that will stay with us, but I also believe we are stronger and more unified than before. I really want to believe that we are, and that’s another thing that gives me hope.” Impermanence is showing at Canberra Theatre Centre, 4 - 5 June 2021. Tickets $69-89 + bf from venue. Photos: Pedro Grieg