Scottish Dance Theatre approaches its 30th anniversary with a double bill that continues to look to the future.
Artistic Director Fleur Darkin has an ambition to cement the reputation of this forward-thinking dance company as a choreographic hothouse for innovative emerging artists. Showcasing the choreography of Anton Lachky, whose work has toured all over the world, alongside Sharon Eyal and co-creator Gai Behar is bold, ambitious and makes a clear statement of purpose. Although more established than emerging, these sought-after artists represent the cutting edge of what’s currently exciting within collaborative contemporary dance.
In ‘Dreamers’, Lachky’s choreography shows us impulse and control. Working to expose individual dancer’s personalities and physicalities, this performance is quirky and physically demanding. Movements are exaggerated and reactive, with sudden shifts in shape and mood driven either by an internal impetus, or as a response to others in their space, at all times fitting the sounds of the varying movements of Bach, Verdi, Haydn and others.
After the interval, ‘Process Day’ presents us not only with a change of style, but also proffers a distinctive mood-swing. Sharon Eyal - one-time Associate Artistic Director and House Choreographer of groundbreaking Batsheva Dance Company - teamed up with Tel Aviv party producer Gai Behar in 2005, and the pair haven’t looked back since. For this latest piece, they have collaborated with composer and DJ Ori Lichtik in the creation of an original techno score.
The dancers, hair side-parted and greased-back, clothed in close-fitting grey vests and black trousers, are sleek and androgynous. Through the gloom of an occasional dim spotlight made murky by the vapours of dry ice, groupings or couplings can be glimpsed. The movements of these shadowy figures are strong, sexual, repetitive and primitive.
The two performances could not be more different – to use cinematic analogies, if ‘Dreamers’ is, in style, like a humorous, animated cartoon, then ‘Process Day’ is more Film Noir. The fact that the company’s ten dancers morphed so completely into these night-and-day choreographies says much about their skill and commitment, as well as demonstrating their willingness to embrace the new and trust in the collaborative process.
There is a niggling feeling that these pieces would have worked better if the order had been switched – the nightclub feel on arrival (suggested by the music and the dry ice) sets the audience up beautifully for ‘Process Day’ but less so for ‘Dreamers’. ‘Process Day’ was also the longer of the two pieces and breaking the general rule, that the second half of a show should not be longer than the first, was probably responsible for some distracting audience fidgeting 10 minutes or so from the end. To weigh in to this cause further, it would also feel better to leave the theatre on a lighter note. That said, the future of dance appears to be in safe hands and is looking good.
Runs 17th& 18th February 2016