Koen De Preter & Ulrika Kinn Svensson (Belgium) Sometimes it's there
Inverted Dance Tamzen Moulding It started at the end
Hagit Yakira Sunday Morning
This final triptych of performances in Resolution! 2011 contained strong, diverse artistry, beginning with an exercise in shifting subtleties; then a clever play on time in a tightly choreographed work heavily flavoured by acrobatic skills; and concluding with a dynamic blast of dance theatre.
Performed by its creators, Sometimes it's there was long, occasionally pretentious, but ultimately satisfying. Beginning with echoes of distant music and sudden, disorientating flashes of light it evolved into substantial sequences of slow, academic movement, including an unsettling number of consecutive rotations by Koen De Preter varied only by subtle shifts in the positioning of his arms. Both performers were bland, deliberately blurred characters for the first twenty plus minutes but - with the introduction of spoken text and song - they sprouted charisma; the work took on a whole new meaning and was suddenly not a moment too long. Based in Belgium, De Preter and Svensson are intense and uninhibited performers with an eye for detail in their work.
Tamzen Moulding's choreography for herself and four other dancers also had an interesting and incisive structure, opening and closing with an excellent reversed duet performed on a dining table. Moulding's expertise as a gymnast and aerialist soaks through her choreography, which is often slick in terms of synchronisation and acrobatic content; only occasionally did this smoothness slip with a couple of the performers appearing more comfortable with the gymnastics than the dance technique. Tiago Oliveira's soundtrack of South American muzak included the big bonus of Röyksopp's hypnotic Triumphant.
The 102nd and final work of the festival needed to be special to be fresh and Hagit Yakira did not disappoint, bringing a vigorous, piquant intimacy to a Sunday Morning where four estimable performers (including Yakira) disagree about distant memories of childhood, playing snippets of piano as they go. The particularity of each character was emphatically achieved and Yakira imbued the movement sequences (especially the floor-based choreography) with a distinctive flow. Resolution! finished on a high.
Graham Watts
The old saying ‘save the best for last' did not really apply to this final evening of Resolution! and whilst Koen De Preter & Ulrika Kinn Svensson set the bar at the Postmodern end of the choreographic spectrum, Gymnastics and Physical theatre followed.
Sometimes it's there was the marmite piece of the evening. The two choreographers/dancers produced simple repetitive movements, from arm swings to slow motion turns in unison, for such a painstakingly lengthy amount of time that any small alteration to their pattern became something of beauty and intrigue. This Belgium duo finally broke the monotony and silence with a speech ‘happiness is experiments these days'. The contrast of the movement to the witty dialogue made this an altogether enjoyable piece and the highlight of the evening.
Inverted Dance, choreographed by Tamzen Moulding, presented a couple whose peace was continually interrupted by their friends. The opening movement of the central couple as they rolled across a large table to reach each other, only to be engulfed by fellow dancers, was a nice set up. After this it was the gymnastic virtuosity which became the backbone of the piece. Some tricks were flashy and eye catching but not enough to sustain interest as all performance qualities were missing to make the narrative come alive.
Physical Theatre ended the evening - Hagit Yakira's Sunday Morning. The four dancers coupled comic face pulling with the regaling of romanticised memories of their childhoods. The movement became frantic darts across the stage followed by the quartet mock fighting each other to the ground. It many have been fun to create but it was tiresome to watch.
Only time will tell if this season's Resolution! will go down in history as the first step on the next generation of choreographers' ladder of success - some gems were to be found and hopefully at least one diamond in the rough will emerge.
Libby Costello