Publications

Michael Clark Company: Come, Been And Gone
Barbican Centre

Mon to Sat 7:45pm
Coming from a farming background in Wales, Michael Clark has found great success by building a strong career from the bottom up. His openness, for which he credits his mother, to collaborating through the fashion, music and visual arts industries combined with his strong choreographic passion makes come, been and gone another creation not to miss. From four years of training at the Royal Ballet and then five years with Ballet Rambert, it is no surprise Michael Clark Company’s work has classical integrity cut with a sharp contemporary sensibility, and embraces such polarities as virtue and vice, grace and embarrassment, abandon and control. Clark’s last Barbican performance sold out and received glowingreviews. This next installment is once again set to the music of David Bowie and his collaborators Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Brian Eno but also includes musical influences such as The Velvet Underground,Kraftwerk and Nina Simone. Come, been and gone will no doubt be a spectacular piece of contemporary dance.
Les Ballets C De La B: Out of Context - For Pina
Sadler’s Wells

Les ballets C de la B is back with Alain Platel’s Out Of Context - For Pina. It takes its inspiration from chorea, a disorder in the nervous system resulting in hysteric and uncontrolled movements. Platel continues his fascination with the misshapen and movements emerging from “mental space“. He plays with the line between the conscious and the subconscious by drawing on material inspired by his history of working with special needs students. Considered his best work in years, this highly original piece is performed by nine dancers on an empty stage with very basic lighting. In homage to the great Pina Bausch, its naturalist style is in stark contrast to recent pieces that have been quite design-heavy. This minimalist approach leaves a strong emphasis on the dance and the relationship between the emotional states of the dancers and the audience members. It has had a brilliant reception at its premier in Brussels and is one dance show not to miss.NB: Out of Context - For Pina is performed on 17/06 and 18/06.

The Place (www.theplace.org.uk) - Resolution Reviews


Robert Heaslip, Meitheal

Robert Heaslip, Meitheal

Meitheal, Gaelic for ‘work group’, is an apt title for this performance.  The choreography embodies old fashioned labour ethics; where long, flexible limbs exemplify grinding wheels, repetitive shapes create a chain of events necessary to reap the harvest.  Clearly well rehearsed, the movements become streamlined, morphing into one giant organism which cleverly mimics a similar phenomenon arising from repetitive physical work.  One of the female dancers, with her majestic height, moved very similarly to the Na’vi, wielding long legs, with a strong centre of gravity.  It was refreshing to see a dance clearly speak its concept and be subtly supported by its design. Meitheal is strong and unified.

Eleanor Sikorski, Most Likely

Eleanor Sikorski, Most Likely

Eleanor Sikorski’s Most Likely incorporates the rhythm of dance more than the artistry of movement.  A foley artist’s heaven, Most Likely, is a refreshing rendition of the children’s game ‘keepy uppy’.  It is credit to Proost and Urzelai’s temperance of character that we invest in the simple, playful tension of the task at hand.  When Proost enters and begins with the ping-pong, we are drawn in by the possibility that she could ‘drop the ball’.  Uzrelai’s smooth, rhythmical transition into paper cutting made the rules of the game instantly clear.  The activities were charming and original, from peppering red cut outs to abacus counting and kissing.  There were a few transitions where the performers seemed to panic, as their foot falls possessed a destination rather than the rhythm.

Iratik Dance Theatre, Exoro

Iratik Dance Theatre, Exoro

A wise choice by David Watson to open Exoro with the enigmatic sport of watching people walk.  It is strangely relevant and perhaps unconsciously reminiscent of Peter Henke’s The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other in which watching people walk tells many stories.  As the name suggests,Exoro demonstrates polarities of inclusion versus exclusion and the individual versus the group.  Initially, the company were strong in the execution, however, became increasingly sloppy in the challenging moments of cannon orchestration.  The neon glow sticks were extraneous and the introduction of acting for the final image was jarringly discontinuous.

Zoë Cobb


Bethan Peters’ choice to preface her show with T.S. Elliot’s quote, “Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go” is ironic.  Although, her concept and vision were admirably ambitious and clearly inspired, And Again… was incremental steps beyond what the dancers could comfortably perform.  The clearly skilled performers could use more rehearsal, so our attention would fall on Peters’ envisaged bodily precision and not so much on the protagonists’ exertion and memory.  Supported by the choice in music, the piece was urban, where the dancer’s independence and dynamism were almost violent.

Beauty Unveiled presented four skilled and mature dancers. Yuyu Rau’s vision felt strong but thematically tenuous.  The set used traditional Chinese motif tree prints towering the height of the Robin Howard Dance Theatre and the costumes ranged from Grecian to Victorian, brought to life by contemporary dance.  Apart from the clear individual beauty of each dancer, the title was disproportionately weighty and pretentious.  Was the unveiling referring to the moment when WeiChun Luo tied up one of the three cloth prints?  The audience is left puzzled.

Back was truly inspired.  Simonetta Alessandri’s passion for the spine remained a through line as the piece started with the vertebral articulations of five women, who stood choral like, bathed in warm sunlight-esque hues.  Fresh summer days, depicted by the gentle pastels and warm saturated light mixed with a feeling of being underwater as the skillful spinal gesticulations and lifts seemed almost anti-gravitational.  Scientific in the exploration of themes, the dancers orbited each other, with centrifugal force bringing them to collapse onto each other in the epicentre. Perhaps we were privy to a technical error, but the music arrived, jarring the atmosphere with seemingly no acknowledgement by the dancers.

Zoë Cobb


Mail On Sunday 2 - January 29th, 2009
publication