The Aporia · Stunning lighting and beautiful shapes undermined by lack of choreographic depth in Triptych

Stunning lighting and beautiful shapes undermined by lack of choreographic depth in Triptych

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Nguyen, C. (2026, September 17). Stunning lighting and beautiful shapes undermined by lack of choreographic depth in Triptych. The Sydney Morning Herald. https://www.smh.com.au/culture/live-reviews/stunning-lighting-and-beautiful-shapes-undermined-by-lack-of-choreographic-depth-in-triptych-20260917-p60y7v.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

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Quick Summary

At the Opera House in September, Lewis Major's modern dance production "Triptych" features four segments from three award-winning works, performed by four dancers. The show is praised for its stunning lighting design by Fausto Brusamolino but criticized for lacking choreographic depth and failing to match the profound musical selections, particularly in Epilogue: Act 1 where Corsican polyphony outshines the dance movements.

Written by AI on 2026-09-17, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

The Sydney Morning Herald reviewed Lewis Major's latest dance production "Triptych" at the Opera House from September 16 to 19. Despite his innovative background as a sheep shearer turned choreographer, the review noted that the show lacked depth in choreography despite its stunning visual elements and lighting design by Fausto Brusamolino. The production featured four segments from three award-winning works, but the reviewer felt let down by the absence of Major's signature quirky touches like tractors or sheep. Although the Corsican sacred music score was unique and emotionally evocative, it left a familiar rather than revelatory impression on the audience.

Written for “Triptych Critiqued For Choreography” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

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sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

1 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

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not political

takes no side on a contested political question

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61/100

The Sydney Morning Herald's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

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The Sydney Morning Herald · 5759 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Chantal Nguyen

2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction

🔮 While clowns in other Cirque du Soleil shows might have a touch more European arthouse whimsy, these clowns bear the stamp of Shiner’s modern American comedy and vaudeville interests.

2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Cirque du Soleil is exuberant old-fashioned circus pleasure, plus other new shows this week

🔮 This may evoke deja vu for Sydney dance watchers familiar with Bangarra Dance Theatre: the effect feels familiar rather than revelatory.

2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Stunning lighting and beautiful shapes undermined by lack of choreographic depth in Triptych

Also by Chantal Nguyen

Cirque du Soleil is exuberant old-fashioned circus pleasure, plus other new shows this week

2026-10-20 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

British Corsican Lewis Major Projects Opera House Unfolding

Subjects

Corsican NORP · 2× Major PERSON · 2× Opera House ORG · 2× British NORP · 1× Fausto Brusamolino PERSON · 1× Lewis Major PERSON · 1× Lewis Major Projects ORG · 1× Michael Hulls PERSON · 1× Russell Maliphant PERSON · 1× Unfolding ORG · 1×

Narrative

The score is a keening sacred music lament by A Filetta, the all-male group specialising in Corsican polyphony, a 15th-century singing tradition nearly lost beyond recovery in the 1970s, only to resurrect as a hallmark of the Corsican separatist movement.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-17

🔮 This may evoke deja vu for Sydney dance watchers familiar with Bangarra Dance Theatre: the effect feels familiar rather than revelatory.

2026-09-17 · The Sydney Morning Herald

Stunning lighting and beautiful shapes undermined by lack of choreographic depth in Triptych · assertive framing

Claims (21 extracted, 1 hedged)

In the most true-blue modern dance biography you’ll ever read, Lewis Major describes himself as an enterprising sheep shearer-turned-award-winning-choreographer. asserted

Major → read → choreographer

“He is the only dance artist he’s ever heard of,” his biography quips, “who can reverse parallel park a tractor”. asserted

who → hear → tractor

I was slightly crestfallen that there were no sheep or tractors for Triptych, the Opera House season of Lewis Major Projects. asserted

I → be → Projects

Despite the name, Triptych contains four segments from three award-winning works, teasingly named Prologue, Epilogue: Act 1, Unfolding, and Epilogue: Act 2, performed by four statuesque dancers. asserted

Triptych → contain → dancers

Major was mentored by British choreographer Russell Maliphant and lighting designer Michael Hulls. asserted

Major → mentor → Maliphant

Here, he trips the light fantastic by pairing with award-winning lighting designer Fausto Brusamolino for Prologue and Unfolding — with the lighting emerging as Triptych’s five-star gem. asserted

lighting → trip → gem

Pivoting light beams, shining pyramids, oscillating particles, and swinging lasers all comprise a magical lighting design toolkit: encasing the dancers, slicing the air, and pulsing across the floor. asserted

beams → pivot → floor

Time is slowed and sped as light peels through the performance space, before that space melts into a headlong rush down a dizzying floor conveyor belt of light rays. asserted

space → slow → rays

This is no gaudy laser festival – the lighting is mostly white-toned on a black backdrop – but so vivid that it exhibits its own puckish personality, announcing itself as the fifth stage presence alongside Major’s dancers. asserted

it → exhibit → dancers

The choreography itself leans heavily on lighting to create complexity and sculpt the dancers’ bodies. asserted

choreography → lean → bodies

Prologue is the most successful: three dancers in black strike commanding poses as futuristic light prisms move up and down around them. asserted

prisms → strike → them

Unfolding’s lighting is even more kinetic — in one scene, a dancer seems balanced like a gymnast on a spinning beam of light — but the choreography bloats. asserted

choreography → seem → light

An intimate closing vignette, with the dancers stripping to their underwear, strains for a vulnerability it never earns. asserted

it → strip → vulnerability

Epilogue: Act 1 begins with enigmatic body painting before progressing to a duet. asserted

Act → begin → duet

score → specialise → movement

The ancient music’s profundity outpaces the duet, which – hindered by uncertain grips and laboured weight transfers – seems immature in comparison. asserted

which → outpace → comparison

It’s as if the choreography is trying a shortcut by borrowing the music’s numinous gravitas, but without finding a movement language equal to the music’s historical and spiritual weight. asserted

choreography → ’ → weight

Epilogue: Act 2 relies on theatrical use of ochre-coloured powder to give visual interest to a slow series of spins. asserted

Act → rely → spins

This may evoke deja vu for Sydney dance watchers familiar with Bangarra Dance Theatre: the effect feels familiar rather than revelatory. uncertain

effect → evoke → Theatre

While the dancers are strong and the shapes beautiful, Triptych – with its stately pace and repeated lingering poses – never quite achieves mature choreographic depth. asserted

Triptych → repeat → depth

In the end, its lighting does much of the heavy lifting. asserted

lighting → do → lifting