This year’s Ballet at the Quarry, In-Synch, lands heavily on the contemporary side of ‘contemporary ballet’. The quadruple bill by WA Ballet sounds promising on paper: a Finnish choreographer who combines film and live movement, a collaboration with a Perth-based contemporary dance company, and a dance piece that’s mostly improvised. But the product is underwhelming. The program lacks sophistication and subtlety, and does not always best serve the dancers’ technical capacity.

Carina Roberts and Matthew Edwardson in X-it, as part of In-Synch Ballet at the Quarry. Photo © Sergey Pevnev

Opening the evening is X-It by Finnish choreographer Johanna Nuutinen. It’s concerned with the emotions and paranoia of being under constant surveillance; how we behave when we know someone is always watching. On a large screen, we see dance sequences shot at ominous locations like Fremantle Prison. The performers on stage respond to the digital versions of themselves, moving in unison, rebelling against them, or disappearing ‘into’ the screen.

The movement is aggressive, frenetic and constant; physicalising the unsettling feeling of being watched by someone. It’s a slick affair, especially the film, and the six dancers handle the grounded and fluid choreography well. But...