It starts with classical music and a classical style. A single female dancer, a dim stage and a hushed audience and then it begins.
A dancer on top of her form sets in motion the rehearsed and refined movements which immediately communicate thousands of hours of practise, training and preparation, and not a second of it has been wasted. She is slowly joined by others, and by degrees the space in front of you fills with a styled and controlled movement, each performer with a precision and relaxed grace.
Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique weaves in and out with the swirl and eddy of the human element. The stage seems to shrink as the power and energy of the dancers grow and the performance space can barely contain them. It’s like watching fissionable material reach critical mass, it’s quantum physics at the human level and this is a rare and exotic material that is about to explode in front of you.
And as one phase of this dance ends another begins. As one wave of emotion induced by the dancers crashes on the shore of the audience another and another and another is already being formed out in the now deep depths of the stage and the watchers look on as this tsunami heads towards them.
This was only a preview I witnessed brought to the Fringe by the NYD in association with the New English Contemporary Ballet. It already has a honed edge. The collection of dancers and the variety of the material is eclectic. Although starting in an almost classical milieu they quickly move into other areas. In the later stages a rhythm and bass sequence of dance tracks drives the group in a much more hedonistic direction.
For any student or follower of dance this has got to be one of the shows to see this year – they have already made their mark and the Fringe hasn’t even started yet.
Times: Runs until 16 August, 13:00