Ballet BC - Triple bill

[trog]

I watched Ballet BC in their triple bill, at the Birmingham Hippodrome, last night, the final event of IDFB. There is a lot of dancing in the dark, with the dancers wearing black costumes and a completely black set. Sometimes it what quite hard to see what was going on.

Of the three pieces on offer, the opener 16+ A Room I felt was the strongest. It's very energetic and the drum and bass score helped give the sense of urgency. The dancers are obviously very fit! It is not all danced at warp factor 9; there are some slower sections and there are some lovely patterns in these. The choreography is by Emily Molnar, the AD.

Next came Solo Echo by Crystal Pite. It is a much slower piece, danced to Brahms and provides a nice contrast to the opener. The are some really beautiful moments in this and I think this was the audience's favourite. The backdrop of five columns of continuous falling paper snow looks nice. This is in the repertoire of Netherlands Dance Theatre.

Finally Bill by Eyal & Behar and in the rep of Batsheva Dance Company. I found this piece very dull and repetitive. I hope the composer has paid royalties to Kraftwerk - there are clearly bits of Autobahn, Trans-Europe Express and The Man Machine in there. The white leotards are uninspiring.

I estimate the theatre was half full last night. It is a pity there weren't more there but the company is relatively unknown in the UK. Several of the BRB dancers where in the audience. AFAIK, Birmingham is the only place they are visiting in the UK and the final performance is tonight.
 

[alison]

I was going to say, Trog, who are they?

[aileen]

It's a contemporary ballet company based in Vancouver with around 14 dancers plus apprentices.

[trog]

BC = British Columbia

[Ian Macmillan]

There's a pretty favourable review here:

 

http://lichfieldlive.co.uk/2016/05/23/review-ballet-british-colombia-birmingham-hippodrome/