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Transitions Dance Company and LamatDance Bonnie Bird Theatre,
Roger Sinha "Divided" Back at base, Laban's Transitions Dance Company completed their extensive 2004 touring programme (UK & Amsterdam) with an invigorating programme of diverse, thought provoking dance creations. Divided combined inspiration from Indian dance with martial arts and North American dance. The costumes, rich orange and red, were towards the end subjected to a lighting coup by Lars Jensen; all the colour drained out so that the group appeared to be dressed in black. Transitions for the whole ensemble appeared at first to be a silent dance piece, with no composer credited. "Everyday objects become part of the performance and the performers themselves become objects", we were told. Gradually sounds emerged from the dancers themselves, rising to a chattering, shrieking climax as they divested themselves of all they wore down to underclothing; a changing room scene? Nine chairs become animate objects in their hands. At the end, they become a chorus line with forced fixed smiles. A piece which keeps you wondering what's coming next and sticks in the mind afterwards. The best score was Heinz Ditsch's for Dorner's Intertwining, a piece with some impressive acrobatic partnering. But the music was projected far too loudly, near the pain threshold which can damage hearing. And although we were well into the middle third of the sixth row (excellent for watching the dancers) the sound reached us almost exclusively from one side. The loud speakers of Laban's superb sound system seem to be placed too close to the audience for balanced listening. We found the second half of this generous programme a little less enthralling; the untiringly vigorous, brightly costumed final offering delighting the capacity young audience, who responded to a track from The Prodigy, a pop group outside our experience. I do hope modern dance programmes will not move completely away from including some items with live music, new and old. LamatDance Laban, 29 July 2004 Compás was a stimulating and thought provoking work to begin a notable evening of modern dance inspired by Spain and South America. The stage was criss-crossed with illuminated lines which at first looked like laser beams; they were in fact six elasticated strings, set in a complicated pattern which made us think about ideas of rules and constraints. The scheme made visible structures and rules which underly artistic production and social life. The strings, set at various angles, created bendable boundaries, moveable obstacles; they had to be careful not to trip. Bringing together flamenco and contemporary dancers, Compás explored intricate flamenco rhythms and the members of the company combined to complement and enrich one another, creating a compelling piece of powerful percussion. The dancers, trying evasion, crawled under and stepped over the demarcations, bounced and helped each other across them. The most confident character at one point gathered and lifted the strings/rules to dance under them. Compas gave visual expression to structures which underly all artistic and social life. Ultimately the rules/boundaries/limitations proved not only unavoidable but essential to the creation of this exciting work as a metaphorical interpretation of negotiation and accomodation with existing boundaries. The live music (Andrés García with an expert group of musicians) gave LamatDance a real lift - it is always to be preferred to canned soundtracks. Sitting in the middle of the ninth row, the amplification and sound projection from speakers to the sides and above was ideal (c.p. our experience last week sitting towards the front and at the side). The limits of the 'stereo triangle' at Laban needs to be worked out! The second item Myth ostensibly embodied interpretation of the mythological archetypes of different goddesses, "inspired by Greek mythology and drawing on experience", but this passed us by. Again, in this piece flamenco and contemporary dance and music combined to nurture a satisfying artistic expression, which made us regret that we were not allowed to see Nosotras, the third item in LamatDance's current repertoire, in which traditional flamenco costume is worn. H2O (Henri Oguike's junior group) proved anti-climactic in this context and was far less interesting, failing to compensateby having a medley of popular Brazilian songs projected far too loudly in Ile Aye. |
Laban, Deptford 21 & 29 July 2004