Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia celebrating 10 years on stage with Raewyn Hill work In The Shadow Of Time

Co3 Contemporary Dance Australia may have been a newly created Perth-based company in 2015, but it was not lacking in legacy when Raewyn Hill took on the role of founding artistic director. Formed through the amalgamation of Buzz Dance Theatre and STEPS Youth Dance Company, it was shaped in three parts representative of its name — to be a professional dance ensemble, an engagement program and an education program. “In retrospect, I’m happy to be honest about not completely understanding the weight and the magnificence of the legacy of what we inherited then,” New Zealand-born and raised dancer Hill admits. “I think now, we hold the legacy of the company deeply in our veins, with the responsibility to continue to drive and innovate and create contemporary work and experiences. That’s the continued vision, and I hope beyond me, it will continue to be the vision for the company. We respect our legacy, and we innovate and create the new for our future.” Co3 has so far celebrated its 10th year on stage in 2025 by supporting the artistic exploration of dance makers in the sector, commissioning four WA choreographers to create works for the company’s IN.HOUSE and IN.RESIDENCE pathway program seasons. September will see the premiere of Hill’s new choreographic work In The Shadow Of Time, performed in collaboration with the 12-piece Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective and featuring costumes created by iconic Japanese-born fashion designer Akira Isogawa. The piece will be presented in Perth at Liberty Theatre before touring regionally to Margaret River, Albany and Bunbury, along with an international performance at the World Expo 2025 Australian pavilion in Osaka, Japan. “I reflect on all that, and I go ‘10 years later, look what we’ve achieved’,” Hill declares. “That’s a pretty significant year of programming and opportunity . . . the company’s in a really good position. “I feel like it’s a bit of a cheeky 10, because we did lose three with COVID-19. It was sort of three years in this holding pattern of just the insecurities with funding, and the impact of COVID-19 on the community and on the art form, on touring, on opportunities, on people’s appetite for art, people’s ability to re-engage, going back to the theatre, and just how much that changed people.” In The Shadow Of Time follows Hill’s epic creations Architect Of The Invisible (2023) and Archives Of Humanity (2021) and explores the concepts of ageing, the passing of time and the experience of moving through life, performed to a live musical palette featuring Arvo Part’s Tabula Rasa, Philip Glass and Peteris Vasks. While the music has proven a huge source of inspiration for Hill, so too has her fascination with the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, performed in a confined space where hierarchy, status and religion are left at the door. “There’s something about this energy between two people when truth happens in a confined space,” Hill, who calls Subiaco home, says. “I’ve taken that concept, and the dancers perform on a 2m by 2m platform that revolves slowly. It never stops, just as time never stops, and those five dancers work together in this confined space.” It is a notably smaller number of dancers than in her previous two works, but Hill says the restriction is not only fitting to create the right energy, it also acknowledges and provides space for ACO Collective’s 12 musicians. “So in essence, there’s 17 of us and there’s a lot of energy happening in that room,” she adds. “One thing I’ve been so proud of with the work of Co3 over the last 10 years is about the collaboration. We never do a season alone; we’ve never done just Co3. Collaboration is a really big part of who we are and how we present our work. “It was just one of those natural conversations with ACO chief executive Richard Evans of ‘how can we help bring live music to the regions and how can ACO in their 50th year, help a 10-year-old company bring contemporary dance to the regions?’” In a twist of fate, Hill was sitting with Isogawa in his Sydney warehouse, sharing her philosophy of recycling, upcycling and reimagining sets and costumes whenever she creates a new work, when the conversation turned to Isogawa having designed uniforms for ACO. “He had received all of the uniforms back from ACO and it just so happened that for his collection this year, he had started to unpick those uniforms and recreate them into new pieces,” Hill recounts. “We both just sort of looked at each other; the synchronicity of it was so powerful. “The musicians will be wearing a reimagined version of the original uniform from ACO that are about 20 years old, and the dancers are wearing pieces that we’ve chosen from his existing collection, that he’s reimagining and recreating. I feel so honoured, not only just to work with Akira but that we have this philosophy of that reimagination.” In The Shadow Of Time is at Liberty Theatre, Perth, September 17-20, touring to Margaret River, September 23, Albany, September 25 and Bunbury, September 27. Tickets at co3.org.au.