Tantrum for 6 begins with a full-on audiovisual screened across the back of the performance space – chaotic, incredibly noisy and unsettling, this is a depiction of the birth – hurtled along a small tubular space – of the six dancers in this piece. It’s an assault, probably what some babies experience as they arrive in this existence. It lasts longer than is entirely comfortable, too. Already, choreographer Harrison Ritchie-Jones is making a point about timing.
Then we are watching utterly silent little beings, all in skull-fitting caps with earphones, singlets, socks and shorts, curved in a line, legs extended, dealing with their arrival. We see close-ups of them individually on the backdrop, sometimes blurred as they discover how to move and use their bodies. Sometimes it looks as though we are seeing images from body-cams – clever, detailed work by cinematographer Alex Walton.
Gradually they begin to stir and interact. They look like little worms before morphing for this reviewer, into puppies, tumbling and nudging and climbing, exploring their new space together.
The only sounds in this part are grunts from the dancers as they throw each other around, clambering, clinging and tumbling down.
There are repetitive movement motifs, where one person is the centre of a pivoting movement before being vaulted to their feet, and athletic but anti-traditional ballet lifts punctuate the piece, dancers astride shoulders, hurled and curled around torsos.
Having found their voices, these little beings disappear and we see them in a hidey-hole offstage and hear them planning to make a film, in distorted childish voices, with a bit of detailed fantasising and planning – some of it very funny.
Back they come onstage to show us the results of their storytelling plan, which is energetic, dark and primal, lit in red, with roars from the dancers as they interact within the storyline.Â
In the middle of this, the dancers all coalesce into a choreographed, contemporary street shuffle, in unison, which really pops – a moment of coherence in the chaos of being human and making it work moment to moment. The challenges of life return and the piece ends with each being helping to move the others off into their next level of existence – whatever that may be.
While all the dancers are strong, athletic and graceful when required (sometimes graceless is the order of the moment), each cast member is individual and interesting to watch and listen to – their groans, cries and grunts are all their own. There are few joyful noises from the performers in this piece – it’s effortful being human.
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Nick Roder’s music and Ashley Buchanan’s lighting support the ideas seamlessly, and the whole company’s focus and attack, in this most modern of works, is always stimulating and provocative to witness.
Tantrum for 6
Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre
Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy
Choreographer: Harrison Ritchie-Jones
Composer: Nick Roder (bonus track by Robin Fox)
Lighting Designer: Ashley Buchanan
Cinematographer: Alex Walton
Visuals Operator: Jordan Kaye
Production Manager: Siobhan (Shiv) Geaney
Producer: Michaela Coventry
Dancers: Anika De Ruyter, Rebecca Jensen, Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Georgia Rudd, Oliver Savariego, Michaela Tancheff
Tickets: $10-$38
Tantrum for 6 will be performed until 22 February 2025.
