I recently had the privilege of going to see ‘Roots’ by National Dance Company Wales, at Theatr Clwyd.  This performance included four different dance pieces which consisted of ‘Ecrit’ ‘Why Are People Clapping ?’ ‘Codi’ and ‘Rugby: Annwyl/Dear’. These dances were performed by a small but strong ensemble cast that made the dances look really interesting. In between the dances, the audience got the opportunity to share their opinions/views on what they watched, which I think made the audience look deeper into the story behind each dance.

The first dance presented to the audience was ‘Ecrit’. This was a duet that was performed with one person behind a screen so this created a shadow-like figure. This was visually interesting for the audience and I made me think about the different things that it could represent. This helped to show the status of the two characters at different points in the dance. There were also sections in the dance that were performed without music. This made me realise that dance is just as effective without music as it is with music.

Another dance we saw was ‘Why Are People Clapping ?’. This one stood out to me the most because I found it fascinating how the dancers were creating the rhythm themselves and they all managed to stay in time. Although the rhythm didn’t change, the speed of the dance did and I found it clever how everything still managed to fit together perfectly.

The third dance ‘Codi’ had more of a theatrical vibe to it. As the dance progressed, the acting element became very clear. This made the audience connect with the characters emotions and got them hooked on the journey that they go through.

The last dance piece that was performed was ‘Rugby: Annwyl/Dear’. This included very strong ensemble work. I loved how energetic this piece was and how well the sport of Rugby was shown through a form of dance eg. lifts, running around, supporting each other. Although the dance was performed really well, I think that at times some of the movement was repetitive which sometimes made the story hard to follow.

Overall, I enjoyed hearing people’s views on each dance as they were sometimes different to what I thought so it made me think about the dance from a different perspective. Also, in the dance ‘Ecrit’, there was a section in the dance where one of the dancers sang a few lines of a song. I think this worked effectively as it made the audience realise that dancers also have other talents and this could be incorporated into a dance to put a twist on it. Finally I enjoyed how the acting through the dance pieces was over exaggerated as this helped the audience to understand what was going on throughout the dances. I think the show could have been better if some of the dancers shared their own views on the dances as it would have been interesting to hear if any of the storylines of the dances changed throughout the rehearsal process.

In conclusion, I would rate this five stars as I think that the audience interaction was incredibly unique and each individual dance was performed with a lot of emotions and with strong movements.