Established by dance educators and choreographers, Bonnie Neate and Suzy Piani, The Training Ground is a six-month intensive pre-professional contemporary dance program.
Designed specifically for exceptional contemporary dancers across the ACT and neighbouring regions, the program is designed as a pathway between studio-based training and essential preparation for those pursuing tertiary education or professional dance opportunities.
The culmination of the program each year is a professionally produced original dance work which has become one of the highlights on the Canberra dance calendar.
The production this year was entitled THE EDGE – an abstract loss-of-innocence work in two-acts which traces the experiences of a starry-eyed young employee who becomes caught up in corporate power struggles which threaten to crush her ambitions and her mental health.
An ensemble work performed by an all-female cast of fourteen dancers, THE EDGE features exemplary, meticulously rehearsed, unison movement, demanding floorwork and strikingly choreographed solos and duets, supporting four principal dancers around whom the storyline revolves.
As Employee A, the ambitious young employee, Emily McCoy, costumed in a smart grey office uniform, commences the work, alone in a spotlight. Her solo suggests her optimism and enthusiasm for her new job.
Her new colleagues join her, all costumed the same as Employee A but in black and appearing rather less enthusiastic as they arrive for work. All crowd into a lift which transports them to the work floor, where desks descend simultaneously from the ceiling and they begin unison repetitive tasks.
McCoy, who has already been offered a place in New York’s Joffrey Ballet School’s 2026/2027 Summer School Intensives, in both the Contemporary and Classical ballet programs, as well as a scholarship for the Classical Ballet program, gives a captivating performance.
Already a superb dancer, she is also a gifted actor, capable of interpreting her character’s journey through youthful enthusiasm and growing disillusionment, before finally rebelling against the crushing of her ambitions.
McCoy is well matched by the three other dancers who play the characters influencing Employee A’s journey. Emma Prail plays the Office Manager who recognises Employee A’s potential and encourages her. Stella Woods is her conscience, who mirrors and questions Employee A’s decisions as she climbs the corporate ladder.
Tia Neate exhibits a remarkable dramatic presence as the powerful corporate boss known simply as The Upstairs, who attempts to force Employee A into the mould she has created for all her employees.
The storyline for THE EDGE is complex, often surreal, with demanding, abstract choreography by Neate and Piani, supported by extraordinary production values, brilliantly executed lighting and extraordinary projections and special effects, impeccable costuming and music choices. It also offers challenges for individual interpretation by its audience.
So while the creative purpose driving each production by The Training Ground, is to test and display the talents of each participating dancer and train each dancer in the skills necessary to adapt their individual talents to the visions of choreographers with whom they will likely work during professional careers, THE EDGE also provides a memorable evening of remarkable dance making.
THE EDGE
Erindale Theatre, 115 McBryde Crescent, Wanniassa (ACT)
Performance: Friday 24 July 2026
Information: www.thetraininggroundact.au
Images: Emily McCoy in THE EDGE – photo by by Eliza Swiderski (ES Fotografi) | The Training Ground Emily McCoy and Ensemble in THE EDGE – photo by by Eliza Swiderski (ES Fotografi) | Tea Neate and Emma Prail in THE EDGE – photo by by Eliza Swiderski (ES Fotografi)
Review: Bill Stephens OAM