Dance East, 2016 CAT End of Year Show, Ipswich

[Ian Macmillan]

The Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) at Dance East gave its End of Year Shows today at the Jerwood Dance House in Ipswich.  I saw the matinee this afternoon, and an evening show was to follow.

 

Apart from an opening pdd from Coppélia, the programme was entirely contemporary in style - a pity in a show at this level that the girl was not on pointe, but all praise to Gabriel Ciulli for his line, accuracy and musicality.  Here and elsewhere he showed distinct promise.  It's a personal thing, but I found a degree of sameness in much of the contemporary work, though the commitment of the youngsters to each piece was complete and beyond reproach.  Bright spots were to be found in the group work of Antonia Franceschi's Brim and in parts of Cameron McMillan's Spira and, praise be, there was even humour and a sense of narrative in Freya Brown's The Crossing and Tim Casson's The Noisy Eater.  I pass over the lengthy concluding number, Revolution, clearly enjoyed by many but, to me, an egregious waste of youthful energy.

 

One can but wish the 15 graduating students every success as they move on into what is, at best, an uncertain business.