Erin Johnson is a postgraduate student at London Contemporary Dance School, and an avid writer. She holds two bachelor degrees from the University of Washington, one in journalism and the other in dance.
To begin their week-long run in London at Sadler’s Wells, the Birmingham Royal Ballet presented a diverse triple bill of works choreographed by Artistic Director and British ballet icon David Bintley CBE.
The inagural GOlive Festival, curated by dance journalist Donald Hutera, boasts a diverse range of dance in an intimate setting – a small theatre above the Lion and Unicorn Pub in Kentish Town. Slated to continue through most of September, the evenings are packed with works by artists both established and lesser-known.
This week at The Place Prize finals we’re invited yet again to “Step into the dance debate” and help select a winner from the remaining four UK choreographers. The finals are the last round of a two-year process that whittled 208 applications into 16 new dance commissions, which were narrowed yet again in the semi-finals last fall to the final four.
There isn’t much to say about Arthur Pita’s The Metamorphosis that hasn’t already been said. Returning the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio Theatre, this award-winning production is a dance-theatre imagining of Franz Kafka’s novella of the same name. I missed this production the first time, so was very interested in seeing it the second time around, and I wasn’t disappointed.
bgroup’s Just As We Are had three very different sections, that explored a similar progression of ideas in three very different ways. In short, the pieces moved from focusing on one person, then two people, then everyone (audience included). However, the method and moods used in each gave the sections very distinct textures.
I wanted to love Ivan Blackstock’s Wild Card night at Sadler’s Wells. With seven pieces, one pre-show performance and post-show DJs, there was almost three hours of material to engage with. I felt the passion Blackstock and his dancers had for their art, and their energy kept me going, almost.
Scottish Dance Theatre returned to The Place last week with a programme that kept you guessing, laughing and sometimes feeling a little uncomfortable, but undoubtedly the best part of the evening was experiencing the expressive honesty of the performers. Beginning the night was Second Coming by Rubber Band Dance Company’s Victor Quijada, followed by Jo Strømgren’s chilling Winter, Again.
Greenwich Dance and Trinity Laban have partnered to put on a double bill of work, bringing together Amstatten by Robert Clark and Theo Clinkard’s Ordinary Courage at Greenwich Dance Agency. Clark’s work was fleeting but impressionable, containing some very beautiful artistic choices made by Clark and his team or artists.
2Faced Dance Company’s new work Out of His Skin is a pure adrenaline rush. This all-male company, lead by director Tamsin Fitzgerald, proves what the young, skilled body can accomplish.
Dan Canham’s Wild Card at Sadler’s Wells meandered through an interesting progression of folk dancing, artistic musings and charming traditions, and I came away with a smile and a lot to think about. This evening was part of a series of three performances in the Lillian Baylis Studio Theatre, which aims to give chosen artists a night to share their work, inspirations and ambitions.
In what way would you set the stage for an exploration of freedom? Jasmin Vardimon’s vision adorns the Sadler’s Wells stage with large, spinning set pieces dripping with duct tube and green vines of industrial plastic. A camouflaged blanket made of rustling synthetic leaves makes sporadic entrances and exits to the scene.
Chunky Move’s vibrant Mortal Engine came to the Southbank Centre this weekend, in a show that utilised some very exciting technical innovations, but seemed to lack the same innovative quality in the movement.
Saturday’s Place Prize Semi-Final 4 showcased the work by the last of the 16 commissioned choreographers, and with it came the announcement of the four pieces chosen to move forward to the finals. The audience vote went to h2dance’s Duet from the second night, with an impressive vote of 4.1 out of 5 stars.
The Place Prize Semi-Final continued on Thursday, with Nina Kov, Neil Paris, bgroup and Darren Ellis showcasing work in the third evening of this four-night series. The Place Prize, now in its fifth edition, is a competition aimed at encouraging engagement with contemporary dance.
The second night of the Place Prize semi-finals proved even more entertaining than the first, with the next four choreographers vying for a spot in the final, and a chance to win £35,000. Mamoru Iriguchi, Rick Nodine, Dog Kennel Hill Project, and h2dance were the four choreographers billed in Saturday’s program, and each presented a new work that was enjoyable and memorable.
Marc Brew Company’s Fusional Fragments lit up the Queen Elizabeth Hall in a double bill that marked the first night of performances in the Southbank Centre’s Unlimited festival, a project showcasing work by deaf and disabled artists alongside the London Paralympic Games. Fusional Fragments, featuring live percussion by Dame Evelyn Glennie, was a highly intricate work that lived up to its title.
Led by Prof. Štepan Nosál’, Slovak National Folklore Ballet Lúčnica’s Forever Young filled Sadler’s Wells with a radiant energy that was truly a refreshing delight. The programme was as diverse as it was entertaining, with dances from the many different regions of Slovakia, and each dance boasted more elaborate costumes and props than the last.
Haunting scenes and brooding prose make Handspring Puppet Company’s Crow a shadowy addition to this year’s Greenwich + Docklands International Festival. Layered with dark imagery, Handspring, in collaboration with Ben Duke’s Lost Dog dance company, presents a winding take on Ted Hughes’ Crow, splicing his poetry with movement and intricate puppet representations of the crow.
In celebration of the 2012 London Olympic Games, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch is in London performing ten different works inspired by places around the world, and last night’s Chile-inspired …como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si… was a polished example of the excellence of the company’s dancers and the genius of Pina Bausch.
