Wales Dance Platform –A Valuable Contribution to the Contemporary Dance Scene in Wales.
A week-long programme of contemporary dance in venues across Cardiff which included the Glanfa stage at the Wales Millennium Centre drew audiences from all over the country and nationwide.   Independent dance artists presented innovative ideas in choreography, film and photography.
One of the major highlights of a talent-filled week took place on the final Sunday when four independent dance companies performed on stage at the Sherman Theatre. Among these was internationally known Ballet Nimba, from Guinea. Idrissa Camara and Oumar Almamy Camara gave a mesmerising and energised performance, leaping around the stage in what appeared to be manic but was in fact perfectly controlled yet acrobatic dance representing masculine identity and the age-old battle for dominance between father and son while reflecting the uncertainties of the social and political scene. Those old enough to recall the visit to the UK from South Africa in 1974 of the show Ipi Tombi, a pastiche of a variety of South African indigenous musical styles which caused some controversy among critics at that time, will have noted similarities. Ballet Nimba deserves an accolade for the way in which the traditional urban and village roots of the dance is retained alongside modern dance moves and stylistics.
At the conclusion of the Platform a £1,000 award for “The most innovative and eye-catching work” an award was presented to Gwyn Emberton for his ‘The Devil in Eden’, a duet taken from his work My People, based on the book by Caradoc Evans.
Barbara Michaels