‘One Another’

National Dance Company Wales advertised that this piece would be ‘three dances to reconnect us’ and this is exactly what they did when the Pool Hayes Academy Sixth Form dancers travelled to Shrewsbury for their first Dance Aspirations day.

The first part of the day we watched the NDCW open dance class in the auditorium where we observed an independent warm up then a technique class led by Victoria Roberts, the rehearsal director of the company. This insight into a usually private company warm up showed us how a professional company prepare and the importance of ballet even within a contemporary company.

After this we were lucky enough to get the opportunity to interview company member Josh Attwood, who was a previous student of our teacher. He explained what it was like to be a professional dancer and described a day in his life. The opportunity to speak to a professional dancer really helped us to understand how much hard work and dedication it takes to successfully work as a professional dancer and has inspired us to consider our next steps towards this after sixth form very carefully.

A few hours later we returned to the auditorium to watch the performance of ‘One Another’ which is a triple bill.

‘Wild Thoughts’ by Andrea Costanzo Martini

We saw this piece as a celebration of the body because of the way the dancers explored their use of body, in combination with voice and movements. This choreography used animalistic movements with all dancers using contact to explore relationships. The block colour costume worked well for this dance as we felt that this could have been to emphasise the abstract nature of the piece and highlighted a lot of different gestures. The costume was abstract enough to support but not overpower the original theme of the dance. The dancers used a dynamic contrast and projected their voice to the audience with different facial expressions, which was effective to the audience as the combination of voice with movement is something that us students have not seen before and left us excited for what was to follow, having pushed us out of our comfort zones and left a lasting impression.

‘Codi’ by Anthony Matsena

‘Codi’ explores a narrative about the Welsh mining community. In this piece the lighting was key throughout the performance, with the use of headlights giving the audience an insight into working conditions for the miners and setting the scene effectively. This was also supported with the choice of  costumes. The props used gave a sense of drama and highlighted how dangerous conditions in the mine were for the workers. Throughout this piece we could really feel the level of emotion conveyed to the audience, where it goes from being excited and energetic at the beginning to sorrowful at the end. The use of voice effectively conveyed the passion of the community. Overall, this was our favourite piece because it taught us about an important historical event, helped us to empathise with miners and understand their dangerous conditions and inspired us to research more widely for our own choreography stimuli.

‘Ludo’ by Caroline Finn

The final piece in the triple bill was about transitioning into adulthood and revisiting fond memories of childhood experiences. The choreographic use of experimenting with games explored as a child was very entertaining as we tried to spot the various inspirations and witness how these had been turned into movement material. The clever use of props, such as the benches that were originally sat at the side of the stage that turned into a merry-go-round has inspired us to experiment with props in different ways back in lessons. It was interesting to see the clear characterisation within the different dancers, allowing us as the audience to explore these childhood memories through the eyes of each character all the way through. The personalised, multi purpose costumes also allowed each dancer to be playful with their character. This piece was placed perfectly at the end of the triple bill to leave the audience on a high.

After the performance we were lucky enough to be able to sit in a Q&A with members of the cast and learn which piece was their favourite, understand more about the development and rehearsal process for the show and understand how some of the pieces were created over Zoom due to Covid restrictions. Having this opportunity really helped us to develop our appreciation of the pieces and inspire us to try new approaches and push ourselves to explore movement material in different ways in our choreography lessons.

Overall, we loved all three pieces that NDCW performed; particularly how different each of them were and how the use of voice was incorporated. The performance style and characterisation of each piece was so different, which I don’t think we were expecting. We also loved seeing different props used in different ways throughout the three pieces and how the lighting was used effectively, especially in our favourite ‘Codi’.

We would like to congratulate NDCW for a fantastic show but really thank them, Josh especially, for opening up previously unseen elements of the rehearsal and preparation process for audience members to immerse themselves in – the impact the whole day has had on our lessons now we’re back in school is very clear to see and we are all better dancers for the whole experience.

So much of what it on offer at the theatre is routine light entertainment or tired re-runs of old chestnuts. A lot of new material, despite the best endeavours of marketing departments, also fails to excite. But, off to one side of mainstream theatre, there is contemporary dance and ‘One Another’ is a show that would appeal to anyone who enjoys performance and who appreciates physical technique, vivid imagination and enthusiastic exploration.

The show consists of three pieces: Ludo, by Caroline Finn, lasting thirty minutes; Codi, by Anthony Matsena, lasting twenty minutes and Wild Thoughts, by Andrea Costanzi Martini. There are nine dancers.

Wild Thoughts is an introduction to the company, with individual dancers appearing, performing similar routines, followed by duos and trios until everyone is on stage and a lot happens simultaneously. It’s extremely energetic (the first performance of the evening?) and very tight. There might have been mistakes but you would have been lucky to spot them. Although it’s fast, athletic and technical, it’s by no means dry. The dancers add to their movements by calling out the names of body parts in a synchronised chant. It had never struck me before that the word ‘thigh’ could achieve dramatic intensity!

I’d seen Codi the last time NDCW performed at Theatr Clwyd. I found it interesting with its clever use of lights and its references to the real life of coal mining and coal mining communities. The second time around, though, as much of it is performed in semi-darkness, to make the most of shadows and the helmet lights, I missed the facial expressions which added so much to the other pieces. And, whilst the soundtrack, mainly consisting of percussive noises is appropriate, it didn’t appeal to me. Nonetheless, this is dance approaching social comment and some of the poses that were struck resonate.

Ludo was fascinating and completely mad. It is a pot-pourri of situations taking place on and around a large table and then a number of park benches, which the dancers can manoeuvre individually or link together. There are moments of surrealism, in which elastic costumes are pulled in all directions, concealing the head or the limbs so that weird shapes can be created – and moved around. Little scenes are played out, teasing the intelligence – you want – in vain! – to work out exactly what is supposed to be going on. Objects, like an old gramophone player and a jam pot, are used as toys. Elements of stage business, like conjuring tricks and trompe l’oeil occur almost randomly. There’s no logic to any of the way the moments segue together, but that’s the fun of the piece. It makes nonsense of the idea of narrative by keeping you guessing throughout. It also makes you wonder if the stream of colourful ideas came from a single choreographer (if so I’d like to have some of what she is on) or if the company contributed their own ideas to make up the mix. The soundtrack to the piece is also charming, including, perhaps inevitably, an accordion at one point. The show ends with a smile.

The only downside is that the evening can’t build as it might with a ballet or a full length play. There are effectively two intervals which are almost as long as the pieces themselves. The audience is left to sit and look at the curtain, talking amongst themselves, or to go outside into the tented reception area which was very draughty (Theatr Clwyd is being substantially rebuilt). There will be technical reasons for these gaps – the dancers need to get their breath back and the set needs to be re-jigged – but ideally, there should be something happening on stage – a talk or question and answer session or even a bit of live music. Performances engross our attention and extend our concentration. If you can find a way to do this cumulatively you achieve more momentum.

That said, NDCW are to be congratulated on putting on a diverse and original show, of the kind which keeps theatre alive. Theatr Clwyd are also to be applauded for keeping their programme varied and making sure their local audience can experience the best in modern contemporary dance.

Simon Kensdale