Review: Dance Nation
Promoted as a story of ‘fierce ambition, rivalry, and the messy journey of growing up,’ Clare Barron’s Dance Nation follows a group of adolescent dancers seeking success in a national competition, and the mainly behind-the-scenes challenges of friendship, identity, and the ‘messy journey of growing up.’ The play includes some references that dance mums will enjoy, but you don’t have to have a dance background to enjoy this show. As Timothy Wynn (Director) highlights, the play explores themes that have a broad relevance, citing an early scene ‘where two of our lead characters, both young girls, have their dance skills and differing abilities weaponised against them to the point their deep friendship becomes fractured’ referring to this as ‘a prominent moment because I feel so many of us can relate to it, regardless of if we were aspiring dancers or not.’
Dance Nation features a strong multigenerational ensemble cast of local actors (Jeanda St James, Carla Haynes, Thea Raveneau, Janaki Gerard, Morgan Francis, Johanna Lyon, and Jessica Veurman, Aurelie Roque, Angela Lal Paulose, Josh Witten, and Cameron Hurry). Carla Haynes was the standout for me, alongside her excellent fellow lead Jeanda St James, but the cast is well-chosen—with the compelling Thea Raveneau, captivating Janaki Gerard, impressive Jessica Veurman, believable Morgan Francis, and the cheeky and fierce Johanna Lyon. I’m not going to name-check every member of the ensemble, but I was also impressed with Cameron Hurry’s occasionally creepy and always determined teacher.
There is a lot to unpick in this show. The writing flicks between the awkward one-liners of childhood friendship through to extensive interior monologues and the testing out of sexualised vocabulary and references. The changes of puberty are referenced with the warpaint of menstrual blood and the wearing of fangs. The reminders of the awkwardness of parental interactions are cleverly portrayed with the ‘conversations’ through the bathroom door, the embarrassing ‘cheerleader Mom,’ and the ‘let’s get on with things’ dance school pick up. And the thin line between building aspiration and bullying is one of the many themes that Dance Nation offers for post-show conversations.
Matilda Award-winning Director Timothy Wynn has assembled a strong team of fellow creatives. I like the costuming and set design that has the audience looking at their own reflections in the dance-school mirror (Eva Fritz, Set and Costume Designer). The sound design works really well, contrasting louder music with the occasional sugar plum fairy sprinkles (Brady Watkins, Sound Designer), but I find the frequent use of the flashing white/red lights and red wash a little distracting (Wes Bluff, Lighting Designer).
I think we all remember the challenges of adolescence: the awkwardness of friendships, identity, puberty, self-determination, aspiration, and of not wanting to be told what do to while also wanting to be on the ‘wall of girls who made it.’ The actors recreate many of those moments, where my favourite scenes are the poignant ‘how do you want it to happen’ discussion between Zuzu (Carla Haynes) and Luke (Morgan Francis), Zuzu’s dancing for her mother when wishing to ‘change the world with dance’ and to ‘dance away the sadness’, and the times when Amina (Jeanda St James) realises quite how lonely success can be.
Of course the other stars of this show are the uncredited young dancers whose tapping and pirouettes are interwoven throughout the show. I understand that the casting requires the actors to have little dance experience, and it was lovely to contrast the moves of the actors with their younger counterparts. I do wonder if the young performers were a distraction for me, as I found myself thinking more about their lives and aspirations instead of always concentrating on the characters on the stage. But I am so glad that we got to see the sheer enthusiasm, talent and style of the ‘real’ dance school performers.
Dance Nation is not a play I’d rush back to see, as there were moments where I found the monologues too long, and felt that this just isn’t a show that has me in its target audience. Having said that, it would be interesting to see a production that doesn’t include young dancers, but then I would have missed seeing these future artists take to the Metro Arts stage.
There is still a week left to see the THAT Production Company’s Dance Nation at Brisbane’s Metro Arts and, if you are thinking of ‘trying to figure it out’ (to quote from the show), you might be particularly interested in the ticketholders’ post-show artist talk on 28 August. Just read the full list of content warnings before you decide if you want to take your kids with you, or leave them to go to this show as part of a school group.
Audience information: Dance Nation, New Benner Theatre, Metro Arts, West End Village, West End (20-30 August 2025). Tickets $29-$49 (plus transaction fee of up to $3.90. Adult supervision strongly recommended. 13+, with warnings including depictions of self-harm and violence with themes of death and mental health, coarse language, use of fake menstrual blood, suicide and sexual references, theatrical haze/smoke, bright/strobe lighting effects. A lockout period applies, 110 minutes, no interval.