by Liam Ridolfi

So, how did creative powerhouse duo Vanessa Marian and Stefan Hunt craft this profound portrait of Aussie masculinity through dance?

Yeah the Boys is choreographed by Vanessa Marian and directed by her husband Stefan Hunt, exploring the unique world of Aussie larrikinism through a beautifully delicate dance sequence. A poignant, deeply profound meditation on masculinity, the film is just as emotionally resonant as it is bewilderingly entertaining.

How did you find such true-blue Aussie blokes that also danced insanely beautifully with such grace and nuance? How did that come about?

Vanessa Marian: “I’m a street dancer. All of them are just my mates. I was so excited to do this project because people don’t know how amazing the Aussie dancing scene is. They’re not really dancing in this, it’s more like movement. But a non-dancer could not have handled those lifts and falls and that level of choreography and the memory. They’re definitely larrikins and they know that world a lot, but there was a lot of playing a character.

“A lot of the dancers that come out of the institution dance world are the ones that get represented on screens when in actuality, I think the Aussie street dance scene is so badass and those guys are big leaders in it. We literally picked out the five white dudes out of the whole wider world. But that’s my long answer to how we were casting. It wasn’t a big search. They were just my mates. I asked my dream team of dancers who would be down to develop and try some stuff out, and to my horror all six of them were down. And I think the reason it was so scary for me is I just the thought that maybe one or two would say yes, and then I’d be scraping for everyone. But all of them were like, yeah, we’re in. It then fell on me to not have an excuse if it just didn’t work out.”

Where did this idea for an exploration of masculinity and the approach come from?

Vanessa Marian: “I was given development space in a studio, and I thought, ‘oh, it would be so easy to work with women or with dancers and just create a fun little dance piece’. But my friend was writing a paper at the time on Australian masculinities through the feminist lens, and she came along to actually record data for her paper as I was a dance developer. Within that first development, both of us had this moment of like, ‘whoa, there’s some really special moments in here. I think it could be more than just riffing’. That’s when I brought Stefan on.”

Stefan Hunt: “I saw the potential of telling a story, not just movement, but actually going, ‘what does a story look like with a beginning, middle and end?’ It is a really common way for a lot of men to not communicate with words and communicate physically, so then, lack of communication means that you have to rely on reading between the lines. There’s the classic story of afternoon beers, but the different dynamics that might play out with the alpha male and him being threatened by his mate having a girlfriend and wanting just to keep the boys together… A lot of guys can relate to that and that guy.

“I was like, ‘how do we bring those characters, so it’s not just six of the same person, but they’re within a hierarchy and there are those dynamics at play, but without any words’. It was a great challenge to try to achieve that and see if it resonated with the audience.”

Vanessa: “We did try a few words in there. We were going to have them say a couple of things. When we were doing the sound design, we thought to dial up the volume to hear some of the stuff they were actually yelling at each other. But it didn’t really work, and we were like, ‘wow, we’ve got to go back to no words’. But I really liked that. Basically, the only person that has a voice and that speaks is a woman.”

Vanessa Marian (second from left) and Stefan Hunt (far right) on the set of Yeah the Boys. Photo by Leo Razak Harunah
On that note, you’re in a relationship – how did your separate artistic visions complement each other throughout the entire process?

Vanessa: “First of all, we’ve been together for so long that we’re basically the same person.

And we have such different lanes that as much as I may have an idea about the way it’s shot – Stefan’s always going to come in and just have the actual expertise beyond the cliches. He just has that knowledge. In that way, our parts don’t really intersect. But the second thing is why I love this project as a movement director and choreographer is because usually dance is an afterthought in film. They’ve got their camera, they’ve got their beautiful set, they’ve got their cool costumes, they’ve even got their music for the music video clip. And then oftentimes they’ve also gone ahead and cast. And then I come there on the day and they’re like, ‘can you teach them something?’ And it’s like, ‘well, they can’t move in that outfit. The floor is too slippery. The reference you gave me doesn’t work for the style’, etc. So, to be able to start with dance, the movement and everything, then have Stefan come on board and bring a story to it with three acts and how it bookends. And then after that, bring in all the elements.”

Stefan: “The camera was basically the seventh dancer. Which is really great to watch a dance piece and go, ‘how can camera or filmmaking techniques really heighten the experience for the audience, so they feel the intensity of a fight or the drunkenness of everyone going crazy?’ It’s fun to apply that to the dance as opposed to trying to retrofit the dance into these other decisions.”

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