Material Sequence Across and Beyond
Daisy Thompson & Ian Garside Both Perhaps Present
Longfellows Physical Theatre Company 2 Men, a Tent and a Match
Here's a clichéd image of contemporary dance: earnest, blank-faced performers in plain-looking, obscure choreography that wilfully ignores an audience who'd rather not watch it anyway. Alas, it has a grain of truth. Exhibit A: Laura Krasnic's Across and Beyond, featuring four plain-clothes dancers, one experimental soundscore (think breathy noises blowing about a wind tunnel), and thirty minutes of more or less wafty activity.
Of course there's more to it than that: no cliché is just the cliché. Beneath this unedifying surface, a compositional principle is at work: atoms of action (arms stretched into wings, fingers bunched into fists, torso hanging stork-like over stiff legs) are combined and distributed into compound phrases. Fine as a choreographic lab-experiment, but this is not enough for a performance, especially when only one dancer (Karolina Kraczkowska) has the physical eloquence to bring these material sequences to life.
Exhibit B: Daisy Thompson and Ian Gartside's Both Perhaps Present. It's similar, but pared down: two plain-clothes dancers, no soundtrack, twenty minutes of more or less robotic activity. Dead-eyed Thompson and Gartside pace up and down, in and out of unison. As before, atoms of action (a sudden crouch, a saluting arm, a trippy step) combine into compound phrases. Again, this might generate interesting results later down the line, but it's not really presentable yet.
To finish, an offbeat oddity: Will Palmer and Thomas Goodwin's Two Men, a Tent and a Match. In boots, breeches and braces, Palmer and Goodwin tussle over a groundsheet, turn it into a boat, shelter beneath it like a tarpaulin, and hoist it like a flag over mock-heroic poses. The piece has the feel of a silent film, Jacques Tati sight-gags gently satirising boy-scout virtues and körperkultur images of fresh air, wholesomeness and masculinity. It's funny, occasionally faintly creepy, and wholly unexpected. Thank goodness, then, for another cliché: in Resolution!, you never know what you'll get.
Sanjoy Roy
Contemporary dance is frequently criticised for alienating an audience. This evening's programme proved a true testimony to that statement.
Notably Across and Beyond by Laura Krasnic. Commencing with a black stage, lighting gradually crept in to reveal four dancers practically motionless. On closer inspection they are moving, so slowly it was almost undetectable. The pace picks up, but movement remains dynamically monotone as each of the dancer's navigate their way across the stage indulging in scattered, self-indulgent solos. Failing to acknowledge each other's presence for the most part, moments of unison are scarce with screeching music bestowing an additional layer of inaccessibility. The dancing wasn't bad, it was however divorced from emotional depth, the only exception being dancer Karolina Kraczkowska's generous performance. This piece could have been about many things, or nothing at all, either way it defied all comprehension and certainly any justification for consuming a thirty minute time slot.
Jolting the audience to attention Daisy Thompson and Ian Garside assertively marched across the front of the stage, then back again, then across, then back again. This is repeated for the entire performance, the direction and timing of the walking alternating, the vocabulary not. Again interest dwindles rapidly. How can an audience be expected to engage with (or derive any enjoyment from) watching dead pan faces and stomping feet? There were some hip and shoulder swivels yet at this point patience was so frayed it failed to muster even a twinge of excitement.
By the time Longfellows graced the stage the audience numbers had halved. This was a pity because their lightly comical sketch provided marginal relief from the earlier offerings. The duo orchestrated a wry theatrical take on an idiot's guide to camping. Entangled together by tent and strings they demonstrate an impressive array of uses for the canvas; boat, basin and blanket just a few of the guises. A novel idea with a fair injection of humour but nevertheless an acquired taste.
Fiona Campbell
Material Sequence, Across and Beyond
Daisy Thompson & Ian Gartside, Both Perhaps Present
Longfellows Physical Theatre Company, 2 Men, a Tent and a Match, photo: Katherine Leedale