contemporary dance
Sarah Kent
The air is thick with theatrical smog… then comes prolonged darkness. Gradually, a dull glimmer of warm light reveals a tangle of limbs moving slowly like the coils of a giant serpent undulating in deep water. As the light slowly increases, a cluster of beings emerges from the gloom moving in oily undulations like tormented souls roiling in the depths of hell. Occasionally they form into brief tableaux, and I’m reminded of The Raft of the Medusa (1819), an apocalyptic painting of a tragic shipwreck by Théodore Géricault, and also of paintings of downtrodden workers by the likes of Read more ...
Sarah Kent
Rambert is celebrating its first 100 years with a triple bill that emphasises the youthful vitality of the company. “We’re 100, and we’re just getting started,” they enthusiastically declare. “The next century starts here.” Like many of the best things in Britain, our first dance company was set up by an immigrant – a Polish woman dedicated both to dancing and promoting others. On leaving Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes where she’d danced with Nijinsky, Marie Rambert came to this country in 1914.As a child she was nicknamed “Quicksilver” because she never stopped moving, and on arrival she Read more ...
Helen Hawkins
South Korea’s soft power isn’t restricted to K-pop and K-drama. The latest Festival of Korean Dance, hosted by venues around the UK, is a demonstration that its contemporary dance scene is impressive too.Now in its ninth iteration, this year I caught two of the festival’s programmes, one indie, the other by the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, who presented a piece on a double bill that was so good, I returned the next night to catch it again.The other offering from the KNCDC, Voyage, could have been from another planet. Indeed, it claims to be inspired by the Voyager spacecraft’s Read more ...