This essay is a critique of a performance entitled 'Eat it up' performed by the up and coming Australian dance company called Steps.

On the 16 th of August 2003, I was enchanted by the STEPS youth dance company as they performed their newest showcase called 'Eat it up' at the Playhouse theatre in Perth. Well at least I was enchanted for two of the three pieces that were performed. Although very different, works two and three came across brilliantly to the audience and communicated their theme through really good use of all the design concepts. Yet 'Dances of Atlantis' failed to capture my interest despite its interesting use of the orchestra on stage and the many partner duos. I think that the costumes let it down slightly, however the biggest reason why I don't think it was as good as the others was because it did not communicate a theme. Nevertheless all three dances achieved their purpose of showcasing the talents of young dancers from all over Perth.

As Perth's only funded youth dance company, STEPS has been showcasing the talents of young dancers since 1988 and since then over 350 young dancers have had the opportunity to participate in a STEPS project.

English: Studio publicity photo of Alfred Hitchcoc...

A man and a woman performing a modern dance.

Valentine dance, school

Innovation, vision and professionalism characterize their company, which has enabled young people from a variety of age groups and backgrounds to contribute to dance not only in Perth, but also nationally. The dancers are chosen mainly through auditions (because there are so many who would like to dance in STEPS!). This is probably due to the fact that STEPS creates work that directly relates to young people and portrays important messages for young people. STEPS helps young dancers to focus on the ways they work together and younger and older dancers work together providing junior dancers with positive role models. So really, STEPS helps make its dancer better people and their dancing in turn affects the audience to better...