Live-streamed on the internet platform Vimeo, from Salford University's New Adelphi Theatre, Joss Arnott's company of university graduates performed a triple bill of new contemporary dance works. I think I would be right in saying that I have seen every Emergence show since Arnott started the company, and these three hugely complimetary pieces represent his strongest to date.
The first of the three pieces was also the shortest, being devised and choreographed by Becky Namgauds, and titled, 'On A Warm Spring Night'. Like all contemporary dance, the narrative of the piece is very much open to personal interpreatation, despite the dancers having a very clear understanding of the "actual" story they are performing. The first five minutes of this piece was the most interesting and successful in my opinion. It consisted of a tribal rhythm set by the dancers' own voiced breath, a ritualistic camp-fire dance, intensified by the use of warm back-lighting. The breathing became louder and quicker, almost sexual, as the seven dancers writhed on the floor. I have to admit to feeling slightly lost and at odds once the American country music singing kicked in (was it Tom Waits?), I was unable to interpret the dancing from here on in and the movements made by the dancers seemed at odds with the vocals and tempo of the music being played. ('Driving my car down to Geneva...") That notwithstanding, the dancers were fully convicted in their interpretation and it was a very solid and interesting opening piece setting the tone for the two pieces to follow very nicely.
'Dissents Cry' choreographed by Ken Edward Turner was the second piece. A longer and much more involved piece of ballet in several interconnecting sections. To my mind this was the most successful and also the most visually satisfying of the three pieces. I loved the creative use of lighting in both this and the final piece, but there were a couple of times in all pieces where the ligthing was so dim that I was unable to see anything. Was this due to it being on my computer screen I wonder?
'Dissents Cry' had a very 1930s socialist worker feel to the whole. Indeed it started off with the dancers in boiler suits (?) lit by a single white spotlight, monotonously dancing a very machine-like unison rhythm. The music was modern, but composed in minimalist form which helped also to create this illusion. I loved the elements of marching that seemed to pop up every now and again, and also the lovely juxtaposition between a solo dancer breaking momentarily free and then a unison piece to overtake that moment of freedom. Again, I was making up my own narrative as the piece went along, and in my mind I was really rooting for the individual to win against the oppression... but by the end of the piece, when all was bright white lights and an urgent fast tempo, I have the feeling that the oppressor might well have won. Imaginative and emotive choreography.
The final piece was choroegraphed by Joss Arnott himself, and was the longest of the three pieces. 'Wild Shadows' was performed after a short interval. The opening reminded me very much of a bright moon shining across a still lake on a cloudless night whilst a wild animal was momentarily caught by the moon's glow casting her shadow across the meadow. It was a lovely image which was soon to be dispelled as one by one a full series of white backlights came on across the rear wall in succession, and the music picked up in pitch and intent and one by one the full company of dancers came almost menacingly onto stage surrounding the first dancer. I was also wrong with my idea about 'shadows'... they were not literal shadows, but were actually the nymphs or wild creatures our imagination conjures at night, as every slight noise or rustle of a branch can be and in our imagination, is, a creature with evil intent.
Arnott's style takes much inspiration from Hofesh Schechter, at least in this piece. His unison steps, sometimes using folk-based rhythms, coming to an abrupt halt, heightening the tension between still and flowing. His tribal and animalistic ideas and dance steps, combined with a throbbing, unremitting beat and creative use of lights, stage spacing and fog, make for thrilling viewing.The final long unison section is almost a 'dance-off of the shadows' and the mood intensifies, the music becomes louder and the steps more frenetic, until finally the whole piece ends in a whirlwind of screams and drum beats.
Three different but, as I mentioned at the start, hugely complimetary pieces, from Joss Arnott's Dance Company in this their latest tour, Emergence: Triple Bill. Thrilling, eciting modern choreography combined with the energy and exuberance of youth, and creative LX. What more could you ask for?
Arnott's style takes much inspiration from Hofesh Schechter, at least in this piece. His unison steps, sometimes using folk-based rhythms, coming to an abrupt halt, heightening the tension between still and flowing. His tribal and animalistic ideas and dance steps, combined with a throbbing, unremitting beat and creative use of lights, stage spacing and fog, make for thrilling viewing.The final long unison section is almost a 'dance-off of the shadows' and the mood intensifies, the music becomes louder and the steps more frenetic, until finally the whole piece ends in a whirlwind of screams and drum beats.
Three different but, as I mentioned at the start, hugely complimetary pieces, from Joss Arnott's Dance Company in this their latest tour, Emergence: Triple Bill. Thrilling, eciting modern choreography combined with the energy and exuberance of youth, and creative LX. What more could you ask for?
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 23.6.21
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