Goodenough College, London
October 19, 2022
Garden Unlocked is a work for three dancers and three musicians. But it is also a work that draws heavily on its location. Throughout, the dance and music seem to be shaped by the surroundings, by the architecture and space around, as well as with each other.
On a sunny October lunchtime, the enclosed quadrangle garden at Goodenough College seemed a world away from the bustle of Bloomsbury outside. It made for a super setting for the utterly engaging 20-minute collaboration between Company Concentric, a group of collaborators who combine skills in dance, music and design; and Ensemble Matters, a music group dedicated to contemporary classical music, including newly commissioned works.
Opening in the entrance archway, dancers Miles Chai, Francesca Matthys and Yanaëlle Thiran listen to the walls. As they put their ears to the stonework, you cannot help but wonder what secrets they have to tell. As they move in the relatively confined space, both Thiran’s choreography and Owen Ho’s music has a lovely breathy quality. It’s not a huge leap to image leaves being blown on the latter’s notes in particular.
Photo Dimitri Djuric
When the dancers come together, arms linked, they twist and turn. Leaves again. This time blowing round and round in a corner.
The audience was encouraged to move around, stand or sit wherever they wished as the dance unfolded. Up on a raised walkway, elements of improvisation creep in as each of the dancers pairs off with one of the musicians: June Lee (violin), Kosuke Shirai (clarinet) and Sarah Ovenden (flute). There’s more freedom and spontaneity as music and dance engage in conversations, often very playful, the dance responding to the music and vice-versa.
Then to the lawn and its three specimen trees, and a more expansive section. Moving into the sunlight, there’s a sense of basking in its warmth.
And finally, they run, laughing. It’s like a child’s game of chase; a game in which the audience finds itself surprise participants too as they follow the performers. And then a final moment of peace, sat together back-to-back, at one with the place, the air and the earth beneath them.