The performance outcome of cross-cultural collaborations, especially short-term ones, doesn’t always match the benefit of the process for the artists. But Matrix resoundingly demonstrates how a five-year connection can synergise the best of each company into apotheotic dance.

Initiated in 2015, the Chinese-Australia Dance Exchange Project has been an extension of the pathways Expressions Dance Company has navigated over several decades. EDC’s involvement with BeijingDance/LDTX Artistic Director Willy Tsao actually began in 2011, with the work First Ritual and continued with his other associated companies in 2016 and 2018 (Natalie Weir’s gorgeous 4Seasons).

Stephanie Lake’s Auto Cannibal. Photograph © Wang Xiao

Matrix was created during a five-week creative development between EDC’s six dancers and BeijingDance/LDTX’s 14 in China. Each nationality is represented by a choreographic voice rendering contrasting acts of reflection, both works distilling a distinct cultural spirit.

As suggested by its edgy title, Stephanie Lake’s Auto Cannibal invokes contemporary philosophies of dance and a quirky eclectic approach that resonates with Australian sensibilities. Despite Lake referencing self-derivation the work is an acknowledgement that this is intrinsic to the process of being and living, and an ode to how we can infuse new influences and interactions...