Dancing At The Barre

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday July 27, 1989

TONY SQUIRES

YOU"RE probably not interested, but what the hell. I once danced. The real dancers came on first, leaping in great weightless arcs that carried them effortlessly across the stage. The lumpy members of the chorus followed, using a sort of modified hopscotch step that got us to where we wanted to go, but was not pretty to watch. The director would simply yell: "Let the Gumby ballet begin."

Just sitting in the same room as Paul Mercurio and Kim Walker brings these less than happy memories pirouetting back.

Mercurio and Walker are two of Australia"s leading contemporary dancers. The work of the Sydney Dance Company has been marked not only by the beautiful ensemble combination of Graeme Murphy"s young team, but by the individual performances of leading dancers such as Mercurio and Walker.

Even on the social tennis court, Walker operates with grace and precision. But, later, in the cafe over a cappuccino, he is just one of the crowd. And this is where the pair have set the SDC"s latest offering, Cafe.

Mercurio isn"t new to the choreographic chair, having recently prepared both Dancing With I and Waiting for the company. But with Cafe, he and Walker have given birth to the idea and have nurtured it to tonight"s opening. (More about birthing later.)

"It"s a day in the life of a Darlinghurst cafe," says Mercurio. "But within that there are relationships and situations going on.

"I think that with anyone who comes to see the show there will be at least one moment when they"ll recognise someone. It"s very identifiable, very real.

Clearly, Walker and Mercurio have spent quite a lump of time sitting in cafes and chugging on cappuccinos. Their study of the inside of such places and the assortment of characters that people them hasn"t been restricted to the inner city, either. The Sydney Dance Company is a much-travelled unit, and the need for a coffee after a big night crosses borders.

But it all started where it is set. Darlinghurst.

"When I joined the company, for the first three years I used to be at Reggio"s every waking moment," says Mercurio. "It made a big impression on me. The characters made an impression.

"Recently, Kim and I sat in the Tropicana, talking about developing the characters more. Even if some of the characters were people that I knew at Reggio"s, Kim and I would be talking about them - deciding what they would be like - and they"d walk into Tropicana. You can go to any cafe and see the characters. They may be dressed slightly differently, with slightly different eccentricity, but the characters are the same."

The choreographers were keen to capture not only the characters of the cafes, but portray them in a realistic way.

"We"ve tried to get realism in with dance," says Walker. "You don"t just come on stage and dance. You actually come into the cafe, sit down and have real cappuccinos ... play a real pinball machine. Hopefully, it (the dance)comes out from the chairs or from the counter."

Although both are willing to acknowledge that Cafe is their work, they are quick to point out the part played by the company of dancers.

"When we first started, we did workshops and gave everybody a character and they had 15 minutes to go away and make up a story," says Walker. "We got some really emotional stories and some funny ones."

"You wouldn"t have a ballet without everybody"s involvement - everyone on the production team," Mercurio continues. "So, if you don"t like something, that"s them."

The music for the hour-long piece has been written and will be performed by Brett Cabot and Colin (formerly Polly of the Reels) Newham in their combination known as Private Orchestra.

Paul Mercurio and wife Andrea are expecting their first baby in five weeks. Kim Walker has an eight-month daughter who was due on the opening night of the SDC"s Kraanerg. She arrived late.

"I haven"t painted the spare room yet," says Mercurio. "I"ve had dreams about having both boys and girls. I"ve even had dreams about being pregnant myself."

Paul and Andrea"s baby is due on the closing night of Cafe. Break out the cappuccinos.

Cafe opens tonight at the Wharf Studio.