There was a point this year if I wondered if I was going to see anything truly amazing (in the north west, at any rate). Unexpectedly, the second half of the year didn't disappoint, with an especially-packed October-November.
The world of dance in the UK seems to me to be in a transitional stage. The contemporary dance companies I once found so exciting are looking oddly-tired and under-nourished. The impact of years of under-funding a likely cause. Innovation is unexpectedly coming from the ballet companies waking from their slumbers. But there is still new (and usually European-looking work) coming through. Graduate dance companies have stopped visiting the city (more or less) and cirque appears to be tumbling further from dance towards circus: perhaps to resolve the marketing and programming uncertainties of being neither one thing nor the other. Time will tell.
Ultimately, and oddly, a bumper year.
Pina Bausch / William Forsythe / Hans van Manen / English National Ballet - Sadler's Wells
So, I made the trip to Sadler's Wells to see the Pina Bausch version of The Rite of Spring, presented as part of a triple bill of twentieth century works. My love of The Rite of Spring is well-documented and the Pina Bausch choreography has been on my bucket list since I first became aware of it. ENB are only the second company (and the first British one) licensed to perform this version. And it truly didn't disappoint.
It is, quite simply a brilliantly-staged masterpiece: absolutely stunning and completely devastating.
The other two pieces in this triple bill - William Forsythe's In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated and Hans van Manen's Adagio Hammerklavier - also provided some glorious and educational dance moments and another opportunity to see the wonderful Tamara Rojo in her pointe shoes.
10,000 Gestures - Boris Charmatz - Mayfield - [part of: MIF17]
The world of dance in the UK seems to me to be in a transitional stage. The contemporary dance companies I once found so exciting are looking oddly-tired and under-nourished. The impact of years of under-funding a likely cause. Innovation is unexpectedly coming from the ballet companies waking from their slumbers. But there is still new (and usually European-looking work) coming through. Graduate dance companies have stopped visiting the city (more or less) and cirque appears to be tumbling further from dance towards circus: perhaps to resolve the marketing and programming uncertainties of being neither one thing nor the other. Time will tell.
Ultimately, and oddly, a bumper year.
Best of 2017
(in no particular order)
So, I made the trip to Sadler's Wells to see the Pina Bausch version of The Rite of Spring, presented as part of a triple bill of twentieth century works. My love of The Rite of Spring is well-documented and the Pina Bausch choreography has been on my bucket list since I first became aware of it. ENB are only the second company (and the first British one) licensed to perform this version. And it truly didn't disappoint.
It is, quite simply a brilliantly-staged masterpiece: absolutely stunning and completely devastating.
The other two pieces in this triple bill - William Forsythe's In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated and Hans van Manen's Adagio Hammerklavier - also provided some glorious and educational dance moments and another opportunity to see the wonderful Tamara Rojo in her pointe shoes.
10,000 Gestures - Boris Charmatz - Mayfield - [part of: MIF17]
10,000 Gestures was (for me) everything that Lucinda Childs' Available Light - the other major MIF dance piece - wasn't.
I have followed Theo Clinkard's career keenly since I first became aware of his work. With This Bright Field it felt like I was witness to a major talent hitting his stride. This Bright Field exceeded my hopes and expectations - and I was full of expectant hope.
A beautiful, distinctive and overwhelming work that playfully and excitingly explores theatrical space and the relationship between audience and performers. Full of wonderful sound and light and movement and colour. Expansive and yet deeply personal, as well as a big statement of bold creative intent from Theo Clinkard and his team. This Bright Field tore the theatre apart and reconstructed it as you watched, but remained deeply and touchingly human. I saw it twice. It was glorious.
Forward-looking, cutting-edge, fascinating, funny, ridiculously beautiful, extraordinarily-staged in the vast undercroft of the (mostly) disused Mayfield Station. Twenty-five astonishing dancers committing fearlessly in an underworld battlefield of unexpected and thrilling movement. A real event.
This Bright Field - Theo Clinkard - The Lowry [Quays Theatre]
A beautiful, distinctive and overwhelming work that playfully and excitingly explores theatrical space and the relationship between audience and performers. Full of wonderful sound and light and movement and colour. Expansive and yet deeply personal, as well as a big statement of bold creative intent from Theo Clinkard and his team. This Bright Field tore the theatre apart and reconstructed it as you watched, but remained deeply and touchingly human. I saw it twice. It was glorious.
Andante - Igor and Moreno - The Lowry [Aldridge Studio]
There was an epic quality to Igor and Moreno's Andante, who somehow, thanks to support from The Lowry's 'Developed With' programme, managed to make the Aldridge Studio look and feel enormous to great effect. Playing with their characteristic deceptively-simply movement Andante was fascinating and oddly powerful to watch. Cool and alien and drenched in clouds of spicy aromatic smoke, Andante had a grace and simple elegance that was somehow deeply moving.
8 Minutes - Alexander Whitley - The Lowry [Quays Theatre]
Alexander Whitley's 8 Minutes was an unexpectedly thrilling and creative exploration of time and space with strong performances, well-sustained creative choreography and remarkably well-integrated digital imagery. It has the unusual feel of real quality from a company of this scale.
Some Greater Class - Holly Blakey - The Lowry [Compass Room]
A promenade performance around a dusty museum of human curiosities, Under Glass was a beautifully-presented experiential examination of people living within their restrictions - self-imposed or otherwise - all under glass.
This was the first time I have ever seen Rambert and liked the entire programme: a programme which fully addressed my usual issues with the company: the messy borderlands between narrative and contemporary dance
DẸP - Dam Van Huynh - Unity Theatre, Liverpool
Charge - Motionhouse (HOME): complex and technical and yet human.
Some Greater Class - Holly Blakey - The Lowry [Compass Room]
This was an astounding and thrilling piece of dance: sexy, brutal, transgressive, tender, intimate, gender queer and moving. Performed by seven beautiful human beings. If I could I would have gone both nights. Drawing from music videos and alternative club culture it blurred the usual lines of contemporary dance performance in exciting ways.
Under Glass - Clod Ensemble - The Lowry [Quays Theatre]
Ghost Dances Plus Other Works - Rambert - The Lowry [Lyric Theatre]
This was the first time I have ever seen Rambert and liked the entire programme: a programme which fully addressed my usual issues with the company: the messy borderlands between narrative and contemporary dance
Transfigured Night was lovely. Symbiosis was thrillingly dynamic and the orgy of man-on-man choreography queered the company in a way previously only dreamt of. Ghost Dances was heartbreakingly powerful - and political - without sentimentality: full of longing and ache with a haunting sense of eternity.
DẸP - Dam Van Huynh - Unity Theatre, Liverpool
Combining my love of dance with my interest in nude performance, this was a stunning show: visceral, intense, beautiful. Really impressive, fearless performances. I couldn't say it was entirely original as it reminded me at times of Olivier Dubois's astonishing Tragédie, but it connected powerfully with me and acted as a strong reminder of my own journey through dance and performance.
Swan Lake/Loch na hEala - Michael Keegan-Dolan / Teaċ Daṁsa — - Sadler's Wells
My second trip to Sadler's Wells in 2017 and only last in this list because it is the last dance show I will see this year. Having loved Michael Keegan-Dolan's The Rite of Spring I was keen to see what he did next - especially as he followed that show with a career hiatus that was by no means sure to end. Keegan-Dolan's Swan Lake, long in gestation, is an intelligent transformation of the tale that ditches all but the essence of the original. Set in mid-Ireland to an Irish score by Slow Moving Clouds, Swan Lake is a bleak exploration of abuse, addiction, post-Celtic Tiger rural economic slump, mental illness and the abuse of power. And yet it ends joyously, redemptively. Starkly-staged and told as much through drama as dance, this is a magnificent piece of modern narrative dance: disconcerting, powerful, moving and ultimately thrilling. And a remarkable cast.
Best of the rest...
Akram Khan's Giselle - English National Ballet (Liverpool Empire): saw this twice in 2016 and again in 2017 with Tamara Rojo as Giselle and James Streeter as Albrecht. It has lost none of its amazing power. Still an outstanding piece of work - the music and staging are still astounding - and would have made the main list but for for 2016.
Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (The Lowry): stunning international class contemporary dance, not too Cuban.
Pinocchio - Jasmin Vardimon Company (The Lowry): occasionally hard to follow but very creative and entertaining.
Song of the Earth / La Syphide - English National Ballet (Palace Theatre): two very contrasting but equally outstanding pieces of ballet history.Charge - Motionhouse (HOME): complex and technical and yet human.
Disappointing...
Out of this World - Mark Murphy's VTOL (The Lowry): expensive-looking and highly technical but simply not entertaining - and almost no dance elements, just some clever aerial and digital work.
Available Light - Lucinda Childs/John Adams/Frank Gehry: beautiful to look at but terribly dull and repetitive.
In summary:
Aerial: 1
Ballet: 3
Cirque: 1
Compendium shows: 2
Contemporary Dance: 22
Flamenco: 1
Physical Theatre: 2
Street Dance: 1
Total : 33
 |
| Theo Clinkard: This Bright Field. Photo: Pari Nader |