Alan Cooper reviews: Sounding Motion
SOUNDING MOTION: IMMERSION IN PLACE
DANCERS: IMOGEN BLAND, KIRILL BURLOV, KLAUDIA FRANZISKA WITTMANN and ONDREJ KREJCI
MUSICIANS: STEPHEN UPSHAW: Viola, CALIE HOUGH: Percussion
CITY MOVES DANCE STUDIO
Sunday 26 October 2014
Another of the themes highlighted in the opening weekend of this year’s sound Festival was dance. DanceLive, the Festival of Contemporary Dance began on the 7th October and runs until the 28th of the month. Since both Festivals are similarly dedicated to exploration of the newest ideas in their specific art forms, collaboration just had to happen.
Let me consider the musicians first. Viola player Stephen Upshaw was brilliant, a true master of his instrument. He even had to take a part, however minimally, in some of the dances. As a result, being centre stage in some of the dances, he had to play quite a lot from memory. The viola too held a principal role in all four of the pieces. There was no rest for Stephen. Calie Hough had only slightly more of a background role but her playing of marimba, vibes, gong and drums were also a crucial part of the performance.
The first piece (and I am relying on the programme note here) was called Naturale. The choreography was created by one of the dancers, Imogen Bland, interpreting a music score by Luciano Berio. The music was based on Sicilian folk songs, excerpts of which sung by a native male singer could be heard pre-recorded for the performance. Stephen Upshaw’s extensive solos matched in perfectly with the raw rustic flavour of this vocal tradition. The dance related to “workers who struggle with who they are during hours of labour under the unrelenting sun”. The two girl and one boy dancers captured the muscular arduousness of labour which bowed them down often to the ground. The dance involved arms as much as legs – in fact the whole body was totally exploited in the expression of the dance (as it was in all the pieces in the programme).
In the second piece, Three Taghs – was danced to music by Tigran Mansurian, a Lebanese born Armenian composer. It featured vibraphone and bowed percussion along with viola. Again I quote the programme note “… the choreography will involve motions based on Armenian religious ritual with the music itself reflecting Armenian chant and sacred song”. That choreography, also by Imogen Bland, featured a performance of fantastic muscular control by the male dancer who appeared to turn all his moves into slow motion.
In Alcohol, choreographed by Kirill Burlov, also one of today’s dancers, the girl possibly represented Addiction as she enticed the male dancer under her seductive spell without ever allowing him satisfaction. She even had a bit of a go at the viola player who managed somehow not to miss a note as he continued spinning out the music. Atmospheric lighting added a great deal to this piece which interpreted music by Michael Fennessy – his Seven Pavans. Fennessy is also a sound regular.
The final piece in the programme was also choreographed by Imogen Bland. Perfect Straits, with music by Benjamin Graves, asked the question “What is important in British Culture?” The programme note says, “Graves and Bland present at once a sarcastic, poignant and playful work with a humorous reflection of what it means to be British”. The music had a definite folksy feel to it matched nicely by the dance and neither was without humour. It was in perfect contrast to the very serious works that had gone before especially the troubling themes of addiction in Alcohol. I found the whole performance both fascinating and compellingly entertaining and not being particularly literate in the art of dance, the excellent programme notes were indispensable.
© Alan Cooper, 2014
