National Dance Company Wales: Surge
Three very different works set in three very different worlds. All showcase the company terrifically… and in Mabon, something uniquely Welsh.
UK
Jan Martens: Voice Noise
Sometimes the dance is very much at one with the music, not so much adding layers or illustrating it, but being pushed and pulled by it.
Hofesh Shechter Company: Theatre of Dreams
Theatre of Dreams is so far out of the box, that I found it impossible to follow… The staging is certainly innovative and exciting
Motionhouse in Hidden
The two-act, full-length work impressed greatly at its premiere back in February but on the much larger Hippodrome stage it looked even better
Dan Daw: EXXY
The metaphor of a treadmill is expressed through movement. The entire cast move in a circle as if whipped by a tornado
Ben Duke, Artist Encounters: Making Text Move
He does not speak so much as perform. His body moves faster than his words, revealing that his mind is running at least ten thoughts at once
Dance Umbrella: Change Tempo
Steiner is instantly magnetic. The toes of her pointe shoes rapidly strike the stage, rooting the lower body so the upper body can flourish and ripple
Taiwan’s Tjimur Dance Theatre visit with bulabulay mun? (How are you?)
Baru Madiljin explains that, while the work does not describe what happened over 150 years ago, he hopes viewers will feel fragments of memories
We Caliban: Shobana Jeyasingh’s sideways look at The Tempest
A work that both fascinates and confuses, and that shows Caliban, danced strikingly by Raúl Reinoso Acanda, from a very different perspective.
English National Ballet in R:Evolution
David Dawson’s Four Last Songs: sleek, extremely physical and emotional… Poetry in motion, it is utterly, utterly gorgeous.
The Royal Ballet: Like Water for Chocolate
As entertainment, Like Water for Chocolate succeeds. It is a rich, magical, exotic tragedy. But in terms of substance, it remains at the surface.