Assembly Vol. 1 | Australasian Dance Collective
All images: Jade Ellis
As a total stranger to Brisbane’s electronic music and contemporary dance scenes, Assembly Vol. 1’s promise of “an electrifying fusion of music and dance” seemed, at first, a little outside of my comfort zone. While part of me was excited to try something new, a larger part of me expected to feel out of place, out of my depth, and maybe even a bit bored. From the moment I joined the show’s buzzing, block-long queue, however, I felt anything but. Surrounding me was a surprisingly diverse crowd of excited ticket holders, some of whom looked up to ten years younger than me, and others at least thirty or forty years older. My fear of feeling like an outsider quickly dissipated; I realised, much to my relief, that this was going to be an event for anyone and everyone.
The event itself featured back-to-back acts from the Australasian Dance Collective (ADC)’s Company Artists and Youth Ensemble and three of 4000 Studios’ resident music makers: Dominik Felsmann (of Felsmann + Tiley), Danny Harley (of The Kite String Tangle), and Louis Frere-Harvey (of $0.003). Billed as “a collision of legends”, this line-up certainly didn’t disappoint.
Music producer and songwriter Felsmann kicked off the evening with a set that merged film score drama with moody, ambient electronica. Though a departure from my usual listening tastes, I found the dreamlike abstractness of Felsmann’s music to be an unexpected treat for the imagination; to me, it evoked a sense of something almost transcendental, like sinking deep into open water or floating from Earth up to space. What made this performance truly mesmerising, however, was its expressive lighting design. Simulated puffs of sand or dust, rippling blue waves, and blinding laser beams materialised throughout, often directly illuminating the audience and rendering Felsmann a mere silhouette onstage. At times, it felt as though our attention as spectators was being driven—seemingly counterintuitively, but perhaps brilliantly—away from the stage and instead onto each other, the space around us, and the emotions stirring within.
All images: Jade Ellis
The transition between the end of Felsmann’s set and the start of Harley’s was so seamless, it caught me by surprise. One moment I was standing transfixed in thought, and the next I found myself caught in a sea of EDM-induced dancing. Where Felsmann’s sound sparked contemplation, Harley’s sparked movement. Positioned back-to-back, the two sets—and the respective vibes they cultivated—were contrasting but electrically complementary.
For me, ADC’s performance of Auto Cannibal—choreographed by Stephanie Lake and composed by Robin Fox—was undoubtedly the night’s stand-out act. The dancers moved with stunning precision and control throughout, switching expertly between moments of fluid synchronicity and jolted, erratic movement. Fox’s strikingly minimalistic score amplified the intensity of the piece. The dancers followed not music, but an assortment of repeated percussive sounds: clicks like popping joints or electric sparks, and swooshes like breath sucked from the body or traffic passing on a highway. Abstract and almost uncanny in nature, Auto Cannibal said a lot but confirmed nothing. As the performance culminated in a shower of delicate white feathers or petals, I felt again—as I had with Felsmann’s act—equally impressed and intrigued.
Frere-Harvey’s closing set rounded the night off with a bang. Having spent the past half hour watching elite dancers perform onstage, the crowd jumped at this opportunity to turn the tables and participate in the dancing themselves. While some headed out early, understandably drained by the energy-intensive evening, others surged forward towards the action. As I joined the dancers, I was again reminded of the crowd’s diversity; everyone, no matter how old they were or what they looked like, was welcome on the dancefloor.
Assembly Vol. 1 truly lived up to its name, and that is what made it feel so special. In the end, it turned out to be an assembly not only of talented artists, but also of everyday people united by their love for the arts.
‘Assembly Vol. 1’ was held 21 September at The Princess Theatre as part of the 2024 Brisbane Festival.
All images: Jade Ellis
