In recent ‘normal’ years I have identified my top ten dance performances of the year but this swiftly unravelled in 2020 when everything closed in March – I was six shows into the year – five of which were terrific (and that was that).
In a typical year I will see around 25-35 'dance' shows: a mix of ballet, contemporary dance, physical theatre, cirque, street dance, and sometimes Indian classical dance, flamenco and tango.
Looking at this year’s theatre experiences I am oddly able to produce a top five for 2021, although I actually saw much less than usual.
- Double Bill (Home + Killer Pig) | Rambert 2 | Storyhouse, Chester | June
- Future Cargo | Frauke Requardt & David Rosenberg | The Lowry [Outdoors] | June
- Sharon Eyal Live in the Loading Bay Programme 3 (RAK / Love Chapter 2)| Selfridges Loading Bay, London | October
- Carmen | Agudo Dance Company | The Lowry [Quays Theatre] | October
- Political Mother Unplugged | Shechter II | HOME | October
In total:
- Livestreams (paid for and at a specific time) – 4
- Free open air performances (courtesy of Waterside, Sale’s Festival activity) – 4
- Shows in theatres and other indoor spaces, and two paid-for outdoor spaces (at The Lowry) – 9
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| Love Chapter 2 | Sharon Eyal Live at the Loading Bay | Photo Bold Tendencies/Damian Griffiths |
I missed two shows that I has booked to see due to anxiety – Matthew Bourne’s The Midnight Bell in Liverpool and Dimitris Papaioannou’s Transverse Orientation at Sadler’s Wells. An anxiety attack also completely destroyed Rambert’s Draw From Within at The Lowry - which I suspect I would have enjoyed a great deal more if I hadn’t been fighting the squirmingly-uncomfortable and suffocating urge to get up and leave from the moment it started.
I have written previously about my anticipated reluctance to go to see ‘everything’ due to my age - I'm not ancient but I can feel the onset of change - and this is potentially conflating with a different sense of willingness to make the effort and a shift in my preparedness to do certain things post-Covid. It is hard to say how long these feelings will last but it feels at the moment like things may never be quite the same. (I personally think the dance sector will take at least 2022 to recover in any case and Covid has certainly masked the still-anticipated and increasing impact of Brexit on UK culture.)