Russell Maliphant Company: Conceal/Reveal, London, November 2015

[zxDaveM]

Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the dress rehearsal at Sadlers Wells  -  here are some photos:
 

Broken Fall - Adam Kirkham,  Yu-Hsien Wu, Nathan Young 
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs /Flickr


<<both, and>> - Dana Fouras
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs /Flickr
 
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Set from DanceTabs: Russell Malipant Company - Conceal/Reveal'
Courtesy of DanceTabs /Flickr

[aileen]

I saw this last night. It opened with a stunning pdd by Lucia Lacarra and Marlon Dino of the Bayerischer Staatsballett which was the opening section of 'Spiral', the piece which Maliphant created for the company in April 2014 (the rest of the piece was performed as well by the 11 strong ensemble). This is a sophisticated work with some incredibly complex partnering work towards the end involving one woman moving between four men.

 

'Broken Fall' didn't have quite as much of an impact as I expected, perhaps because it was created for a much taller and leggier dancer. Adam Kirkham made the strongest impression in this.

 

The solo for Dana Fouras, 'both, and', was interesting for the lighting (huge and changing shadows of her dancing were created by lights going on and off at different positions and angles on the stage) but I didn't find the choreography particularly interesting.

 

The last work, 'Piece number 43', was danced by the four company dancers plus Fouras. It started with each dancer dancing alone in his/her own square of light. Later, the group divided into two with the two men dancing alongside each other and together in the centre of the stage and the three women dancing in a group towards the back of the stage on one side (a bit like a Greek chorus, as one critic said). This piece used some recognisable music (Moonlight Sonata?) rather than soundscapes, as used for the earlier pieces.

 

The programme was very well received.

Edited November 28, 2015 by aileen

[Quintus]

I saw it a couple of months ago when it premiered in Ipswich.  Broken Fall and Piece Number 43 both had a really big impact for us, and drew some gasps of admiration from the audience. The piece I was somewhat underwhelmed by was that for Dana Fouras - the choreography was largely waving arms and the backlighting effects only worked for those bang in the middle of the auditorium (which was where Russell Maliphant was sitting), otherwise the misalignment of backlight and dancer if you were sitting to one side meant getting a full beam in the eyes.  Other two pieces more than compensated though and I'd certainly recommend getting tickets..... in the middle of the auditorium.