Across most of the globe, the word 'calisthenics' has a particular meaning, connoting images of chiselled, shirtless gym bros performing body weight feats of strength, like dragon flags.
In Australia, though, 'cali' was born as a physical fitness regime around the time of federation but has since evolved into competitive sport with an artistic flair. Following the cancellation of this year’s national competition, cali has evolved again into a Festival Theatre spectacular, integrating cinematic interludes, a live orchestra and guest singers including Tim Campbell.
Calisthenics in Australia is a major sub-culture: there are hundreds of clubs across the country, with approximately 15,000 young girls participating, and just as many parents or caregivers stitching gemstones to leotards, styling hair into buns and doing the drop-offs and pick-ups to classes. To the unacquainted, cali can most readily be compared to Olympic sports like rhythmic gymnastics, figure skating and even synchronised swimming. It’s a fusion of gymnastics, ballet, marching, folk dance, club swinging, rod twirling and more.
This year, though, the cali Olympics, the national championships was cancelled, prompting Brooke Browne and Carly Aherne to form the Australian Calisthenics Theatre Company (ACTC) to fill the athletes’ gap in their calendars, and to showcase the year’s hard work. In just six months, ACTC was conceived, auditioned for a cast of 63 dancers (aged 7 to 24), rehearsed and produced a main stage production. . . They also, with the help of an army of volunteers, stitched $30,000 of gems to 450 costumes featuring all the colours of the rainbow.
'A Symphony' was bookended by 12-year-old Sofia Grace Lydyard, the show’s youngest principal dancer, who was dressed as a conductor. Like a symphony, the two-hour show was a blending of disparate elements: solo and group dance numbers performed to contemporary tunes by Coldplay, Robbie Williams, Whitney Houston and more sung by Callum Campbell and Chloe Castledine, who were backed by a small orchestra directed by the world-renowned Kym Purling. Former 'Home And Away' star Tim Campbell appeared to sing a trio of songs, including a duet of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘True Colours’.
Given the scale of the production, and the timeframes for putting it together, 'A Symphony' was a remarkable achievement, as evidenced by the standing ovation at the end, which demonstrated the potential for this new format. There was great attention paid to ensuring every dance or segment had a novel or new component: glow-in-the dark outfits during a Latin American music routine, a solo dance to Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ played on cello by Jacqui Finlay and a spellbinding mirror dance routine, where older dancers looked at reflections of their younger selves. Some improvements could and undoubtedly will be made with a lengthier development period though.
The Festival Centre stage is vast, and while space was filled well with use of curtains, screens, by the live band and at times, by the lighting design, Festival Centre audiences are accustomed to the space being full of sets and backdrops. Most musical numbers featuring Chloe, Callum, Kym and orchestra were note perfect, but perhaps limited rehearsal time led to some imperfections during Tim Campbell’s sections; particularly during the verse of 'True Colours'.
As a stand-alone art form in a theatre, calisthenics is still in its infancy. Unlike ballet and musical theatre, 'A Symphony' didn’t have a narrative or original songs weaving through the full two hours; unlike a cabaret variety hour, there was not an MC. There is the potential, as ACTC progresses, to further integrate techniques like these from other mediums or to simply forge its own path while staying true to calisthenics’ history. One thing is for sure, though: ACTC’s cali girls are an awe-inspiring amalgam of athletes and artists.
