Words: Kirsty Pearson
29/09/2010 @ The Riverfront Theatre, Newport
★★★★★
When I was asked to go along to review a contemporary dance show at the Riverfront Theatre I was intrigued. The closest I had come to contemporary dancing was watching misfits throw some very dodgy shapes on a Saturday night. I thought I was due a bit of culture but as a relative novice I needed backup so I took my mate Tara who has danced in South Africa, for a bit of morale support and technical guidance.
When we arrived it instantly became clear how excited everybody involved in the production was to be working with Stephen Petronio, a world-renowned contemporary choreographer from New York. Petronio wanted to bring his innovative influence to the company but wanted to add a distinctly Welsh flavour.
The first dance, choreographed by the renowned Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, was entitled Romance Inverse. The stage setting was simplistic with just a hand full of moving props to add to the theme of movement and space. The dance was thought provoking. As we tried to pull together the theme, or story, the dancers moved with incredible strength and precision. The girls were graceful, but strong in their movements which added a flavour of masculinity. Similarly, when the guys got going, there were obviously incredibly powerful movements for the eye to feast on but also a few effeminate moves that added diversity to the production. It was a performance of contradictions; light and dark, masculinity and femininity, confinement and space, sensuality and severity.
The second dance, By Singing Light, by Stephen Petronio was truly amazing and left us speechless, which is far from usual. From the buzz during the interval, we were expecting great things but I honestly sat there open mouthed for the entire performance.
The choreography was set around the works of our very own poet, Dylan Thomas. The poems were set to music as the company set the stage on fire with an outstanding adaptation. There was so much going on, we found it a struggle to catch all the action; it was an explosion of movement and strength. The dancers were incredible and quite clearly have muscles where I’ve never thought to look.
Both performances were elegant and drenched in strength, creativity and wonderment. Whilst Tara was in awe of the technicalities involved, I was busy trying to put together the storyline. I’m not sure that I fully understood why each move followed the next but I can say as soon as I gave up trying to figure it out the whole evening became a visual carnival. I guess half the fun is making up your own adaptation of the story behind the dances.
The company are touring throughout this autumn. If you’re after a bit of culture without the trappings of high class aloof rangers telling you what to think, my advice is, grab yourself a ticket and re awaken your childish dream of dancing on the world’s stage. These guys are too good to miss!