choreography: Richard Alston
Travelling people have always taken their own music and dance with them. Picking up influences en route, their culture becomes ever more complex, ever more rich. The classic example is Flamenco, the dance of Gypsies who came to Spain from Morocca, but whose ancient roots were in India – Flamenco and the classical Indian dance form Kathak share many steps to prove this.
The music on the Electric Gypsyland CD used to accompany Richard Alston’s Gypsy Mixture has travelled with 21st century speed. Transported to the Bucovina Club in Frankfurt by the DJ Shantel, Balkan music met techno and a new hybrid was formed. For the CD the influence was broadened to include DJs/remixers as far afield as Chile and Brazil. So many influences, so many dance impulses made this mesmerising music to work with, revealing new layers on every listening.
First performed by Richard Alston Dance Company at Milton Keynes Thatre on 19 October 2004.