Photo credit: Sukmu Yun

(3 / 5)



In my first dance piece seen at the Barbican Theatre, we had a brief yet envigouring stint. Choreographer Eun-Me Ahn has taken under her wing emerging dancers from all over Asia. It’s very humbling and touching to see her support for artists who are at the starting point of their careers, their talents taken flight both in tour and nationally.

Though the show about halfway through halts to introduce some of the dancers (name, country of origin and why choose dance?), we get to know them a bit better, breaking down assumed barriers. Other dancers on screens appear blurred and compressed, though we would later realise that these were the ones who could not make it, Covid playing it’s part to dampen ambition.

The work itself started off strong, strange and wonderful usage of grey ventilation ducting. These might just be our dragons in question, no? These pipes are treated with a fluid creativity, a total highlight. They adorn costumes, make speakers for a makeshift stereo, they cover the stage from floor to rafters and evoke much rope play. The dances meld somewhere between traditional and the experimental. The humour shone through for many smile evoking moments, usually from Ahn herself or a colourful costume wowing in absurd styling.

The heavy use of screens for the moments without absent dancers had less charm. At times, lucious, in other moments it remained a bit tacky. Some underwater scenes were eye candy and some of the effects fusing live dancer and the imagery on screen could work. The show was a little too long, I think it could have been a solid hour. A queer vain glided through as well, something I lapped up with cross dressing and those glorious, golden shortS which I’ll never forget.

The dances may have been mixed with glides, near performance art, returns to traditional elements of the art and whacky contemporary elements. It might not have always glued together, but it is very sweet to see talented artists flourishing in their prime. Consider me a fan.

Dragons continues to The Lowry, Salford. 

Pioneering South Korean choreographer Eun-Me Ahn, premiere’s the exquisite production Dragons. Witnessing ‘Dragons’ is a fusion of both traditional and modern dance styles, centred around music and non-stop movement infusing culture, rhythm and poetical essence from across Asia, which connects the young with the elders, where they both come to terms with the concepts, changes to embrace the vitality of an inter-connected world that calls for adaption, simplicity and interpersonal growth to with an inevitable changing & circulating universe, world & dimension. 

The feature of holograms throughout Dragons gives this production a special, diverse energy into the captivating space created by the Avantgarde choreographer Eun-Me Ahn’s latest kaleidoscopic production, which exhibited an empowering execution from her extraordinary company of flexibly enchanting dancers, who individually interacted on stage with holograms of five inspiring young performers from Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Education, warmth, freedom, water & all the in-between to reflect expression, movement, liberation, originality takes formulation of movement, touch, physicality and sensuality, sprung culture, solidarity and global unification. The vibrancy of colour whether through the clothing, traditional outfits, holograms and or significant lighting cinematic effect; brought the space alive and told a story of beauty, love, passion, progression, soul purpose, magnitude, togetherness, hope, future endeavours, vulnerability & success.

Above-all, Dragons is a fantastic way to absorb the power of Asian past and present culture, whilst bringing about a collective form of magnet impulsivity and grip of focused gratitude and feeling of emotions, service and the ability to feel music, contemporary and hip hop dance, alongside traditional dance movement in a non-unapologetic and self accepting way.

Image: Marathon of Intimacies: Jo Fong & Anuishye Yarnell, courtesy the artists.

Chapter is thrilled to announce Reciprocal Gestures: A Season of Movement and Dance, this September to December. The curated programme will celebrate shared moments and explorations of masculinity, queerness, ageing, the after-lives of colonialism, intimacy and community with performances and events from Gareth Chambers, Seke Chimutengwende, Emilyn Claid, Lewys Holt, Good News from the Future, Anushiye Yarnell and Groundwork Collective.

Across this season, performances from some of the most exciting contemporary dance artists come together alongside talks, open classes, scratch nights, screenings and special events, to put artistic sharing at the centre.

Chapter’s performance programme is a space for experimental and interdisciplinary live art practices, where artists are supported to take risks and audiences can find exciting, original, and accessible works. Chapter’s commitment to this work speaks to the rich history of supporting radical live art practices, and it’s unique position in Cardiff as a multi-artform venue with the capacity to support artists to develop their practice and share their work in dynamic ways.

Performance Curator Kit Edwards, shares some of her thoughts on this exciting new programme:

“The dance ecology in Wales is at a particularly exciting moment where artists across disciplines are coming together for creative exchange. A strong community of artists working with dance have made Chapter their home and we’re keen to celebrate what they’ve built and bring it into conversation with some incredible international dance artists who are performing in Wales for the first time.”

Find out more here

Cassa Pancho is the founder & Artistic Director of Ballet Black. Upon her graduation in 2001, she gained a degree in classical ballet where her journey to found Ballet Black began, produced with the aim to provide role models for young, aspiring black and Asian dancers to feel empowered irrespective of the discrimination black ballerinas continue to experience worldwide.

Pioneers by Black Ballet, Co-commissioned & performed at the Barbican Centre is a time travelling storytelling, adventure of dance, poetry, jazz, music, passion, magic and aspiration. Featuring nine breath-taking dancers named: Jose Alves, Sayaka Ichikawa, Isabela Coracy,Mthuthuzeli November, Ebony Thomas, Alexander Fadayiro, Helga Paris-Morales, Taraja Hudson and Rosanna Lindsey.

William Tuckett, choreographer of the first section of the ‘Then Or Now, takes the audience Into an adventure of love, war, connection and human experiences. The work features poetry by Adrienne Rich (1929-2012), directed by Fiona L Bennett, with poetry recordings from Hafsah Bashir, Natasha Gordon & Michael Shaeffer. The costume designer was by Yukiko Tsukamoto. The concept of using poems was distinctive, meaningful and enchanting. The themes explored were attachment, love, hope and the journey of humanity.  During this set, we symbolically see character building, the symbolic passing objects to reflect connection and warmth in an abstract way and expressed through grandiose ballet movements of fluidity, subtle gestures, soft lifts and poetical turns.

The second half features Mthuthuzeli November’s Nina: By Whatever Means. This work embarks on storytelling the life journey of Nina Simone. Each dance piece demonstrates Nina’s zest for life, her influential messages, her spiritual nature and sound – risen from her powerful statements in the past such as; ‘An artist’s duty, as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times‘. During the beautiful melodic set of her track ‘Sinnerman’ we are exposed to how Nina worked all her life to become a black classical pianist, growing into a beautiful woman with ambition, life and depth. It was evident whilst watching that the aim of retelling Nina Simone was not to play her greatest hits but to show her fight for success, passion and reflect how she set herself for us the right way to be artists. 

It was magnifying to re-live Nina Simone showcasing her talent live in this piece of work, especially due to the impact that was well portrayed choreographically, as it foretold the feel her music had, her breath and attitude, as well as her struggles, battles and turmoil she faced, where the rest of the dancers became her inner demons, as well as her inner powers, which was moving to see.

Starting off with Baby Nina, the aim is clear that her story is to be told choreographically and not show the legacy of her life musically. Telling her story & her life journey from being young and innocent, unexpecting of non-stop worldly attacks for becoming a conscious black musician and soulful artist for humanity. The theme being loss and power, due to how black lives are forced to lose their innocence but restored again by finding and fighting back with power.

The Ballerina ‘Isabela Coracy’ who played Nina Simone quoted ‘Every night is an investigation to play Nina simone to know who she truly was, there are loads of ballets to learn and therefore, she is still discovering how to capture the details of Nina Simone through dance to reflect her sense of power correctly, especially when listening to her song ‘Sinnerman’ what it represents and the incredible burning love she had for humanity. 

Ballet Black is a safe space that evidently reopens eyes to know what it means to be an artist and acknowledge non-discrimination as a top principal, where you can think about being an artist to embark on the notion that aims to continue to normalise freedom, diversity, empowerment and love within society.

NINA: By Whatever Means: Co-commissioned by the Barbican.
Choreography: Mthuthuzeli November
Lighting: David Plater
Costume design: Jessica Cabassa
Composers: Mandisi Dyantyis, Mthuthuzeli November & Nina Simone (1954-2002) Featuring the
voices of the Zolani Youth Choir

(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.