The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts’s staging of Dance Nation is a two hour crash course in what it means to be a tween girl: fun, awful, silly, serious, intense, playful, bruising and empowering. Presented by the WAAPA third-year acting cohort in repertory season at Subiaco Arts Centre, this production is feral adolescence at its best and worst – its sweaty, terrifying and tender – and as the audience we are forced to sweat, be terrified and empathise in quick succession without reprieve.
Clare Barron’s script is set “somewhere in America” among pre-teen competitive dancers clawing their way toward national titles and self discovery. Its a blend of Barbie, Lord of the Flies, Dance Moms and Puberty Blues.
Directed by Alexandria Steffensen, the show rarely settles into a single mood for long. It flips from comedy to cruelty to aching vulnerability in the space of a breath, which feels exactly right for the age it depicts.
Each cast member embraces their character’s own unique chaos (and there is A LOT of chaos) with fervour and their commitment to even the most cringe of moments is admirable. Not to mention often difficult reliance on miscellaneous American accents. It is truly a promising glimpse into the next generation of West Australian performers.
The soundtrack to the production is a character unto itself. As an elder millennial, it teleports you back to the Metros 90s and 00s upstairs room – which was equally sweaty and full of despair as Dance Nation. Perfection.
The production also sings through the choreography, costumes, lighting and set design which transport us from stage, street and childhood bedroom with ease and flair.
You will cry with laughter and close your eyes from second-hand embarrassment as you are propelled back to your tweenage self: truly believing you will lose your virginity at the age of 23 in an apartment in New York that you own (ha). The performance pushes the boundaries of sex ed (and accordingly I urge you to think twice before you bring parents, first dates or young children).
The show is a bold, high-voltage outing that captures the funny, fierce, and feral spirit of femininity. WAAPA’s Dance Nation is not always comfortable, but it’s relentlessly confronting and that courage is its triumph.
Dance Nation is on at Subiaco Arts Centre from March 27-31.