FESTIVAL DANCE | Previews
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THIS IS CONTEMPORARY ICE SKATING Canadian troupe aim to reinvent ice dance TABULA RASA Young Birmingham dance-maker thinks outside the box
MISSING Poignant duet about lives left in limbo
‘We're not cerebral artsy-fartsy intellectuals,’ says Alexandre Hamel, founder of ice-skating troupe Le Patin Libre, and one of the performers in their show This Is Contemporary Ice Skating. ‘Far from that. But through the fun of the event, we believe deeply that the performance introduces a new unique art.’ Unique certainly sums up the Montreal-based
company. Kicked out of multiple skating schools for refusing to adhere to the rules, they set their sights on changing perceptions of ice skating and their show promises segments entitled ‘tap-skating’ and ‘the underwear opera’. But there is a serious side to the medium. ‘Ice allows glide,’ says Hamel. ‘On normal stages an artist must walk, crawl, run, jump. On the ice, a body can be moving at 40km per hour. This makes skating magical to watch – a bit like flight.’
Each performance is followed by a party, and
having two left feet should be no barrier to joining in, says Hamel. ‘I'm a clumsy person. My girlfriend is ashamed of me on dance floors. But on the ice, everything changes.’ (Lucy Ribchester) ■ Murrayfield Ice Rink, 07532 181402, 3 & 4, 9–11, 13, 17, 20, 22 & 23 Aug, times vary, £15 (£13; family ticket £38).
A sensual, athletic mix of African and contemporary dance, this 40-minute performance from Keneish Dance springs from choreographer Keisha Grant’s interest in how people function and connect to others. ‘Relationships, work and pleasure motivated it. But it’s very abstract,’ she cautions. ‘I wanted to tackle the concepts spiritually.’
And what did she learn from making it? ‘How
much we think inside the box even if we’d like to think we don’t.’ Grant founded her ‘small but passionate’ company in 2009. Although she’s the sole choreographer, four dancers contribute to the creation process. ‘Most of the time they energise me to create, but there’s always give and take.’ One of the strongest features of Tabula Rasa is Grant’s use of kizomba, an erotic Angolan partner dance. She’s danced it herself ‘in bars and clubs, where it tends not to go further than something feminine, or sexual. I was intrigued with the ways it could be seen onstage, hoping to use it as a metaphor for how connections can create something new. People inspire all my work, and I enjoy sharing it with new people.' (Donald Hutera) ■ Zoo Southside, 662 6892, 1–9 Aug, 3.30pm, £10 (£8).
An average of 8000 people are reported missing in Ireland every year. While the majority are found, those who remain untraced leave behind a sea of heartbreak and unanswered questions.
Dublin-based CoisCéim Dance Theatre is known for its engaging, accessible, yet profound work, and Missing looks set to follow suit. ‘I’m interested in creating dances that are emotional and have a narrative,’ says director, David Bolger. ‘And with Missing, I was looking for a dance vocabulary that would convey the sheer emotion associated with the disappearance of a family member, loved one or friend. But it was also important to be true to the subject – to honour the missing and be respectful to the families left behind.’
Missing was in part inspired by a woman from Bolger’s own neighbourhood. ‘Everyday on the way to the studio, I passed a missing person poster taped to a lamppost at the end of my street,’ recalls Bolger. ‘As the days and weeks passed I could see her image on the poster fading. It reminded me about the importance of remembering missing people, and how it affects communities on a deeply rooted level.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Dance Base, 225 5525, 2–24 Aug (not 4, 11, 18), 6pm, £8–£10 (£6–£8). Preview 1 Aug, £8 (£6).
THE WARRIORS: A LOVE STORY Multimedia ensemble captures wartime romance
Sifting through a trunk of mementoes after his grandmother’s death, a young musician starts to see his grandparents through different eyes. When they fell in love; how she, a young German dancer, survived the 1945 bombing of Dresden; their postwar life in America. It’s a story of courage, humanity and love – made all the more potent because it’s true.
Based on the lives of Glenn and Ursula Gray, The Warriors: A Love Story is the latest work by Texas-based company, ARCOS. Choreographed by Curtis Uhlemann and Erica Gionfriddo, the script, music and video come courtesy of Eliot Gray Fisher – the grandson of Glenn and Ursula.
Used to creating work inspired by movement, music and
ideas, this was a new challenge for the choreographers. ‘Working from a true story was hard to wrap our heads around at first,’ Gionfriddo admits. ‘We quickly realised, however, that we weren’t recounting events as a documentary would, rather telling Eliot’s story from our perspective.’ Interviews with those who knew Glenn and Ursula formed
part of their research. ‘We are losing survivors from that era,’ says Gionfriddo, ‘and this personal viewpoint must continue to be told before it gets lost in the history books that record presidents, chancellors and generals, but not the countless regular people who were swept up in the broad scope of war.’ Known for its astute use of interactive video and multimedia, ARCOS has learned to strike a fine balance between on- stage and on-screen action. ‘Our challenge is to use enough new media to be relevant to contemporary audiences,' says Gionfriddo, 'but use it differently enough so they have an undeniably “live” experience in the theatre.’ (Kelly Apter) ■ Zoo Southside, 662 6892, 3–24 Aug, 8.30pm, £12 (£10). Previews 1 & 2 Aug, £8.
54 THE LIST FESTIVAL 31 Jul–7 Aug 2014