Dance Nation - Spoiler-free Review

4 out of 5 stars - 6 shows remaining

https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/dance-nation-af2025

In Ohio, a dance team of adolescents prepare for the most important moment of their young lives - a national dance final. Under the guidance of a ferocious dance teacher, we see the teens (all played by adults) fight for glory while dealing with their own talents, inadequacies and experiences. Some are naturally skilled, some just want to have fun, some have overbearing stage mothers, while they are all discovering their power in a world that threatens to take it away. A strait-laced, coming-of-age tale this is not. Dance Nation is a blur of reality and fantasy, a dream and a nightmare. It flips from the mundane to the surreal in a heartbeat, taking the audience on a turbulent ride through adolescence.

Previously performed by the third-year theatre students at Flinders Uni in December 2024, they have returned to take on the nation once more. With a small casting change in between seasons, and a production team consisting of 2 composers, 3 choreographers, 2 directorial supervisors, an intimacy coordinator, and Hannah Smith herself (to say the least), the revival is just as impressive as the first round.

Dance Teacher Pat (Karma Duffield) only thinks about himself, yearning for that next trophy. Duffield portrays Pat like your American-soap gym teacher – think short shorts, uniform top, and whistle (except he had a remote control). The control Duffield has in his character that differentiates between each student is brilliant to watch, particularly with Amina and Zuzu.

Teacher’s pet Amina (Star Thomas) wants it all – but only when she wants it. If she doesn’t want it, she isn’t going to try. We all knew someone like this in our childhood, so it becomes a character that is familiar and relatable. Thomas is great in this role, and her dancing ability appears to be one of the stronger abilities within the cast.

Zuzu falls flat when it matters most, but Noella Grace Akimana does not. The train ride that Zuzu takes in these 105 minutes isn’t something for the faint-hearted. She wants it, gets it, falls and fails. There is a scene where Zuzu can’t talk to Amina about dance anymore that pulls at your heartstrings, and imagining this conversation happening between two 12-year-olds only makes it worse. Akimana has a great piece about how she dreams of losing her virginity, and it’s quite comedic, however there is a ‘magic potion’ being brewed on the other side of the stage that kept drawing my attention – but Akimana had the power to draw me back in – it was truly a game of tug-of-war!

Speaking of magic potion, Wirra Benveniste’s character of Sophia has the awesome job of stealing that scene! We’ve all made weird concoctions as a child. That, along with being the character to discover their period before the dance competition, were two moments that truly assisted in furthering her character development. Benveniste also portrayed Luke’s mum with great contrast to Sophia.

Sarah-Jane Smith’s portrayal of Connie was sublime. There was something about her characterisation that made the character the most relatable. Smith’s performance was truly believable in the naivety she portrayed, where everything was pure in the world.

Siena Noble, portraying Maeve, is an actress that knows no bounds, going all in with her movements, facial expressions, energy, and enthusiasm. Their performance throughout was consistent, joyful, and exciting to witness. Her portrayal of Zuzu’s mum was brilliant – true Dance Mom’s style! I loved it!

Luke (Tom Horridge) gets to be the lucky guy in a dance class with all females. Luke’s quick replies and expressions to those around him shows just out of depth he is, but he’ll never admit it – not even to his mum. Horridge did well with the material his character has to work with. I look forward to seeing him in something else where he might be able to showcase his talent further.

Rounding out the actors, Elvy-Lee Quici (Ashlee) did the perfect job in her monologue about having too much power and not knowing what to do with it (keeping it spoiler-free), climaxing it all with a couple of tears down the cheeks – witnessing this, I was in total shock. Ashlee is the confident, brash, and at times ferocious character. She is teenage angst wrapped tightly with attitude. It was brilliant!

Portraying Vanessa, Abby McDougall needs special mention! Having watched the original performance last December, I knew what was coming at the end of the first scene - but it was equally disturbing watching it again. Thankfully, McDougall continues on in a Backstage crew capacity for the rest of the show.

A minimalist black-box design with a mirror opposite the audience makes for some very intimate and intimidating moments throughout the play. Experiencing a piece of theatre that makes you uncomfortable in your seat because your soul is being glared at, is experiencing Dance Nation – and that’s what I’m here for! Complement the set with the perfect lighting plot to manipulate scenes, characters, and moments of surrealism, and you have a production that tells Clare Barron’s story effectively. A lighting highlight was Ashlee’s abovementioned monologue, worthy of its own curtain-call. The choreography was as brilliant as it was surreal and unhinged, complemented by the original music composed by Alex Smith and Amelia Rooney.

So, what is stopping this production from receiving a perfect score?
While being set in Ohio, there isn’t an American accent in sight. If this was performed by a community theatre group, it would be slightly more acceptable, however, I would assume as third year theatre students, accents would be worked on within the curriculum. Other than that, I can’t fault this production!

If you are not scared to revisit the awkwardness of youth and hear talk about sex, circumcision, periods and other alluring topics, and if the use of expletives does not scare you off, then this production is a must see! Moreso, if you want to passively be part of the show, then front and centre is the seat to choose