(4 / 5)

Choreography and Music: Hofesh Shechter
Performed by: Shechter II
Lighting Design: Tom Visser
Original Costume Design: Osnat Kelner

The eight performers performing in Contemporary Dance 2.0 from Hofesh Shechter and his award winning company Shechter II, were; Tristan Carter, Cristel de Frankrijker, Justine Gouache, Zakarius Harry, Alex Haskins, Oscar Jinghu Li, Keanah Faith Simin and Chanel Veyent. They are sensational, adapting perfectly to the Shechter style, which is one minute smooth and sinuous as silk and the next pulsing to a frantic beat of rapid, exhausting movement, as relentless as a heartbeat.

Each dance piece gets divided into five sections, which were signed by the dancers holding up rough cardboard. It begins, with my all time favourite ‘Pop’, with Michael Jackson inspiration posing, followed by ballroom, frantic, electric jumps & contemporary dance moments of joining hands and forming multiple, beautiful dance stunts & visual images.

Freedom of expression through sensory movements were expressed by all eight dancers’ synchronised & projecting an aura of internal power through pop dance, feelings of motherhood and pain/relief experienced by our bodies channeling energy in complex journeys. Seductively taking eyes across the audience as their bodies effortlessly & vigorously flop and rise with their fluidity hypnotised, leaving you mesmerised to the depths of how pop culture, embodying Michael Jackson – the King of Pop’s symmetrical famous moves.

The music was upbeat. In beat we witnessed a fusion of dance styles such as krumping, popping, electro funk gliding to the counts within the music flow that went to the rhythm of 1,2,3,4 – however, automatically speeding up to match their heartbeats drumming to the beats 2,4,6,8. This soon boomed to a higher frequency as they began spinning, break out dancing and exploiting various other dance sensations like ballroom & contemporary thanks to the Israeli choreographer Hofesh Shechter.

Each dancer colourfully dressed visually moved our brains as their facial expressions epically motioned feelings of strain, reactions of excitment & vanity. You could feel the dancers’ hearts race, pumping to the counts of 10, 20, 30, and 40.

A 50 minute non-stop fusion of intensity taken to the stage. Hope was their supply, influence was their leader, precautions were their discipline, and spirit guided was their teacher. Flexible bodies slid springing along the floor; resonating solitary on stage, the lights set the mood remaining predominantly dim lit.

Well incorporated into the dance moves were light bouncing, embracing, smiling, culture, architecture of hearts rejoicing, as their bodies sprung like tigers. Towards the end played ‘The End’ by Frank Sinatra. It became an expression of unity and life between the past and present of home manifested through pop, hip hop & other dancing styles high on energy, moving to a completely different beat working strangely well, appearing extremely beautiful towards the end.

The music consisted of heavy deep drums and heartfelt string instruments. The ambience was uplifting as it radiated emotions of tranquillity, hope, victory and a full tribe of life. Each dancer individually performed a solo as themselves, which conveyed their stamped identity. Towards the end all moves moulded into one! A high off of energy, fire and enjoyment, zero stopping until the stage was cleared making you want to watch forever. Not to be missed!

Contemporary Dance 2.0 will be at Battersea Arts Centre, London, until the 29 October.

 

(3 / 5) Sumida River

(4 / 5) Impact Dance: Chapter 25+1

A hectic Saturday, along with tube strikes would herald a invigorating day of theatre in London. Kings Place has been itching to do their Noh Theatre festival since pre-pandemic times and with two days filled with events, I was only able to make Sumida River in Sign Language. This inclusive show, based on an old Japanese play of the Noh tradition, would welcome both deaf and hearing audiences. The lead roles were taken by Deaf performers who signed in their respective languages of JSL (Japanese Sign Language) and BSL (British Sign Language) with voiced translation in English.

The tale itself is quite simple: a Ferryman (the fitting stature of Brian Duffy) refuses to let The Mother (the elegant Chisato Minamimura) pass the river so late at night. The story of a child who drowned in said river permeates the story, having been kidnapped by bandits and was fleeing in the process. The theme of the after life and the never ending flow of nature are the main elements of the piece, here even more distilled in a often calm, sometimes heightened drama. Percussionist Beibei Wang used all sorts of instruments, big drums to make us jump out of our seats, little gongs and even the floors and seats of the auditorium. 

Most interesting was the use of both British and Japanese Sign Language, the Ferryman not able to grasp what The Mother means, with her insistent waving of her hand, her index and thumb together like the okay symbol. Being a lover of the dense practice of Noh, this was more accessible for both deaf audiences and for those unsure of the art itself. The strict posturing and lapping dialogue in the traditional pieces take time to unfold over you. Director Verity Lane should be praised here for her efforts, along with the cast including Elizabeth Oliver as the English voiceover and the plush costumes of Mirei Yazawa. 

A venture over to the Peacock Theatre saw the barnstorming talents of Impact Dance. Starring the legend Hakeem Onibudo, some 26 years of discovering dance talent in London (and beyond). He isn’t known as Mr Impact for nothing. 

It was the sheer talent on display from all these young dancers that was highly impressive. Each of these groups offered some neck breaking, animated moves, something you wouldn’t think the human body could do in such quick succession. The diverse nature of the inclusion would see Impact spread out to Reading and Birmingham. I was off course delighted to see Fusions Elite, a troupe from Cardiff grace the stage, a welcome reminder of home on this trip away. 

Many of these pieces had a certain mood, either jubilant, yearnful or furious. It’s that violent body popping I just cant get enough off! A retro cut of musical choices would see the delights of dubstep, a mass of hip-hop, The Pet Shop Boys, The Lion King and more. A breathtaking dance from Samuel da Silveria Lima, who came from Brazil to perform, proved that any one can dance.  An appearance from Botis Seva, fresh off the success of BLKDOG, ended the guest artist programme in a typically evocative and strident target on violence in today’s world. 

Seeing all this come together and the response from the audience to Hakeem’s lifetime of work was very touching. I’m in it for the journey now and want to see more. 

Hi Sam, great to meet you, can you give our readers some background information on yourself please?

Hi of course, I’m Sam Nicholson, I’m a dance teacher and fitness instructor down in Swansea. I have the pleasure of teaching lots of age ranges and abilities but I’m also the programme director for CanDo Hub where I get to work with 20 talented dancers with learning disabilities in our training provision.

I’m a Makaton tutor and I also work with lots of dance teachers and fitness instructors upskilling them in Additional Learning Needs.

What got you interested in dance and the arts?

I’ve danced since I was three so I’ve grown up with dance and the arts, it’s always been a part of my life and I don’t think I can see a time when it’s not going to be. I love how free it can make you, and through dance I’ve been taught so much.

You run the CanDo Hub which is for Adults with Additional Leaning Needs. You run group exercise and dance fitness opportunities, classes and day provision for adults with ALN, as well as CPD training for professionals. Can you tell us more about the group?

I set up CanDo Hub initially to provide dance and group exercise opportunities to individuals with ALN and their families. This quickly grew and a need for more specialised training became apparent – hence the start of our training provision.

Our training provision is made up of 20 talented individuals who all have Additional Learning Needs. It’s centred around giving and encouraging members to have a voice. Our teams decide their learning topics, what genre of art they want to focus on and so on. We very rarely say ‘oh no, you can’t do that’, its about finding a way to make their goals achievable and accessible. We work as a collective respecting each other and we get the best possible outcomes due to it.

The group have recently been working with Rebecca Edwards the National Dance Company Wales, Dance Ambassador for the Talesin in Swansea. How did you come to work together?

We were very lucky that Karen Thomas, Company Manager from NDCWales got in touch with us wanting to know more about our team, that lead to a meeting with NDCWales, Engagement Producer Guy O’Donnell, who put us in touch with our local Dance Ambassador. Rebecca has been fabulous and our team have really enjoyed working with her. Rebecca respects every one of them as dancers and has given them scope to add their own bits of choreography into the piece as well as expanding their knowledge and abilities. This was some of our dancers first experience of contemporary dance and they have really grown in terms of ability and confidence since working with her.

Your group performed a Curtain Raiser at The Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea prior to National Dance Company Wales performance on the main stage. That must have been a nerve-wracking moment for the group!

They really enjoyed being part of the curtain raiser, there were a lot of nerves and excitement leading up to the piece, the performance included two teams who had rehearsed separately, the first time they rehearsed all together was 45 minutes before the performance so that was incredibly nerve wracking, hoping that that the strategies we had put in place to rehearse spacing would work! Thankfully it did and we were very proud of how our dancers performed. More importantly, the dancers themselves were very proud of themselves.

You created some visual resources prior to the performance by NDCWales for the CanDo Hub, how do these support access to an understanding of Contemporary Dance for your group members?

Visual resources are so important for our teams, it helps consolidate knowledge and helps understanding. Prior to attending, we had watched the trailers for each piece and discussed what we thought each piece was going to be like.

Then during the performances each dancer was given visual worksheet on questions regarding each performance. This really helped our dancers focus their attention on different aspects of the performance.  From set, props, costume and music, to movements and symbolism behind each piece.

The responses were great and lead to lots of discussion after the performance. Some of our dancers picked up on symbolism that for many would remain hidden. E.g Codi, one of our dancers saw within the first minutes of the piece that the flag used was to symbolise death. This worksheet was really helpful to refer back to when they were reviewing the pieces afterwards.

Contemporary dance is often abstract so there’s this common myth that someone with an Additional Learning Need wont ‘get it’, however if we as professionals provide the support in order to focus attention on certain aspects of each performance the results are often fascinating. 

We believe some of your group have reviewed the performance? What did they think?

Yes! They loved all three pieces. I was expecting them to all decide as a collective on what was the overall favourite but this led to a debate with no overall favourite chosen. What was interesting was that our dancers all had valid reasons as to why their chosen piece was their favourite overall, and there was a lot of symbolism that they understood.

They loved the spoken word section of Wild Thoughts using different speeds of movement. In Codi they enjoyed the prop work with the stick and the rhythm section comprised of clapping and stamping. In Ludo, they like how fun the piece was and the hopscotch lighting effect section.

We share a selection of quotes from the groups reviews below

“My favourite bit was the blood pumping and jumps. The dance was about mining. The red flag was blood and they waved it when people died. The music was loud. It was my favourite piece.”   Nia talking about Codi

“The music was loud and sharp. The dance made me feel jump scared but I was ok. My favourite dance moves were the dying moves and the stick work” Matthew talking about Codi

“I liked it when she turned the horn and scarf into a ship – it was funny!”  – Ross talking about his favourite part in Ludo.

“The hopscotch was fab. I liked the jumps and lifts. It made me feel happy.” Joanne talking about her favourite part in  Ludo.

“I liked it when they worked together as a team. I liked their floorwork and ballet moves. It was amazing”   Sara talking about Wild Thoughts.

“My favourite move was when everyone walked saying ‘foot foot foot foot.’ I liked the lifts too”  Clare talking about Wild thoughts.

If you were able to fund an area of the arts in Wales what would this be and why?

More opportunities for learning disabled dancers and learning disabled dance companies. As a sector we need to understand that we as professionals can learn a lot from learning disabled dancers and not put limits on their potential which quite often we are all guilty of.

What excites you about the arts in Wales?

 It’s great to see how the arts is growing and reaching all different ages, backgrounds and abilities. It’s exciting to see new collaborations and relationships starting to be made that will hopefully grow providing more opportunities for everyone in our sector.

What was the last really great thing that you experienced that you would like to share with our readers? 

The last thing I wanted to say was thank you to NDCWales!  Our dancers felt valued and respected by the NDCW dance leaders and company and we really hope we get to work with them again.  

You can find our more about The CanDo Hub here.