Chloe Leong: passion and precision
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“passionate, highly precise, demanding and often breath stealing”
If you love dance, then you are in for a treat this autumn when Sydney Dance Company’s (SDC) 2015 season kicks off with a sumptuous double bill featuring Quintett, by American choreographer William Forsythe, and the premier of Frame of Mind, by SDC’s own artistic director Rafael Bonachela. The show comes to Canberra Theatre Centre for three days on April 30 and opened to rave reviews in Sydney in March, when the northern hemisphere welcomed in the heady days of spring.
Quintett is the Taj Mahal of contemporary dance, a love song to Forsythe’s wife, who died of cancer before the first performance in 1993. It is set to the plangent tones of a homeless man singing a hymn, “Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet,” which was set to music by Gavin Bryars while he was working on a documentary about London’s rough sleepers. Quintett has been entrusted to just eight dance companies across the world, and is performed for the first time in Australia.
Bonachela’s piece has been described by the Guardian’s Kate Hennessy as “passionate, highly precise, demanding and often breath stealing”, set to a score by Bryce Dessner of New York rock bank The National in collaboration with San Francisco’s Kronos Quartet.
So it’s quite an achievement for Sydney-sider Chloe Leong to have been selected for one of the five roles in Quintett, her first performance with the SDC. At just 22 Leong is already a seasoned professional, have graduated from London’s Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in 2010 and Barcelona’s IT Dansa in 2012. Leong selected the latter because she wanted to work with Bonachela, and set off alone to Spain to cut her teeth in the land of flamenco and duende.
“There is definitely a fire in Spanish culture which helps to bring out the passion of life,” Leong says, “but these pieces are also intensely technical and push the boundaries of where the body can go.” Communicating both the passion and precision of the dance requires hours of practice and teamwork. “With every piece you have to be intensely connected to everyone else. There is no room for complacency but we all encourage and support each other because we are all our strongest link.”
Leong was 16 when she realised that she wanted to be a professional dancer, confessing that she “really didn’t enjoy ballet.” But nothing prepared her for the discipline and hard work that hone a successful career – at least 10 hours a day five days a week are spent in rehearsal and Pilates, the latter essential for mentally engaging with the physical and emotional intensity of contemporary dance. Nonetheless she still finds time for down time with friends on the beach and yes, there is also room for chocolate!
While her European sojourn has given Leong a sense of the limitless opportunities and cultural dancescapes that await her, she is delighted to be back home, near the beach and doing what she loves. “I’m just so excited to be in Sydney now and dancing for Sydney Dance Company. It’s been my goal since I first started dancing, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me here.”
the essentials
What: Frame of Mind
When: Thursday 30 April to Saturday 2 May 2015
Where: Canberra Theatre Centre
How much: $30 to 69 ($3.30 ticketing fee)
Tickets: Online through www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au
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