Last Friday, I went to a really
interesting evening of dance, interesting as it gave me an opportunity to not
only see a new piece by Tim Rushton that had been premiered in Edinburgh by the
Rambert Dance Company (‘Monolith’), but also to see some choreography and
dancing from China. It was the opening
night of the pieces in Copenhagen.
The opening piece was ‘Monolith’ (pictured above),
inspired, according to the programme notes, by Stonehenge. What a refreshing change to what I had seen
the week before! The dancers were
engaged and moved with grace, elegance and strength. The choreography was lyrical and clearly
showed Rushton’s classical roots. An
excellent piece, set to music by Peteris Vasks.
I suggest you read about the Rambert rehearsals if you want to know more
in the wonderful ‘theballetbag’.
The second piece, ‘Dead Fire’ was
choreographed by Wang Yuanyuan, artistic director of the Beijing Dance Theater
and danced by Dansk Danseteater. This
too was quite a lyrical piece, with a beautiful back drop. The dancers cast ‘snow’ over the stage and on
each other, giving the piece a soft edge to its at times harsh message (death
always wins). The dancers frequently had
their back to the audience, sometimes a risky thing to do, but in this case it
worked.
The evening ended with ‘The End
of Loneliness’, choreographed by Tim Rushton danced in the main by the company
from Beijing, joined by the dancers of Dansk Danseteater. The music was a strong percussion piece by
Mathias Friis-Hansen. Two things struck
me most about this piece. First, the
women had the most beautiful arms I think I have seen in ages. Long, elegant, they seemed to use every fibre
of their arms from the tip of the middle finger to the shoulder. The
men too had good arms and nice strong jumps.
The second thing I noticed was Rushton’s sometimes lapse into, what I
like to call the ‘oh help I don’t know what to do next so I’ll just get them to
repeat the same thing three or four times’ routine. I’ve seen him do this before, and it is such
a shame to comment on this since I really like his work and he comes over as
such a nice person in interviews!
The audience gave the evening a
standing ovation, which I thought a little over the top, but it was definitely
the highlight of any dance I have seen this year. Rushton has done wonders with Dansk
Danseteater and I hope it may long continue.
He has made mistakes (like the full length ‘Cinderella’ for the Danish
Royal Ballet), but is full of talent and a breath of fresh air on the Danish
dance scene.
I love your writing. You could be doing that for a magazine or something. Made me feel like I had been there almost. Well done! xx
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