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Rambert Dance Co - Labyrinth of Love Tour - Autumn 2012


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I was at the Lowry last night to see Rambert's Labyrinth of Love Tour.

 

It is always a pleasure to see Rambert's wonderful dancers but in recent years I have been quite disappointed in at least one work on the mixed programmes.

 

I am happy to say that I came out on a real high last night having loved all three pieces. The evening started with Marguerite Donlon's Labyrinth of Love, which had its world premiere on the previous evening. The piece is for 14 dancers and a soprano. The music is by Canadian composer Michael Daugherty and I loved it! There are also parts where the dancers breathing is the music. The set is a set of screens at the back and a lower set of screens just in front of them. The screens show projections, the first few minutes being close-ups of grasses. I found they really enhanced the action.

 

According to the programme, the piece is inspired by love poetry and prose written by or about women spanning 2000 years. The soprano, on stage and an integral part of the action, sings the texts. I couldn't find any correlation between the sung words and the choreography but it didn't matter a bit! The girls wear corsets and the men "swimming trunks" and sometimes dresses or trousers with patches sown on them. They all look cream in the lights.

 

The choreography is in sections - one for each of the poems and it is inventive and witty in parts. Some parts made me think of insects. The gap between the screens could perhaps be a stream and sometimes the men seem to be dancing in it as though it is water. There is one section where a girl in a very long dress (standing on the shoulders of another dancer?) seems to be alternately flirting and remonstrating with some young men, which I particularly liked.

 

I met up with a friend who was seated in the circle in the interval. She told me that the floor was highly reflective so that all the dancers appeared 2-fold and that also enhanced the piece which she had seen from the stalls the night before. I would love to see it again.

 

The next piece was Paul Taylor's Roses. I loved its serenity and intricate circular patterns. The final duet was sublime and sublimely danced by Angela Towler and Kirill Burlov. It was bliss.

 

The evening finished with Itzak Galili's Sub for 7 men. It was very darkly lit and the costumes looked as though they were greatcoats with the tops turned down to the waist giving the impression of distressed kilts. The movement was rhythmic and what I always think of as "tribal" in that the men danced in synchronisation in a vaguely aggressive way. It was energetic and exciting.

 

The combination of wonderful dancers and a great programme made for a heady evening.

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Rambert Dance Company are at Sadler's Wells this week. A brand new piece, Labyrinth of Love (chor by Marguerite Donlon) is included, and here are a couple of pics...

 

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Labyrinth of Love - Julia Gillespie and Adam Park

© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

 

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Antonette Dayrit being shadowed (in Labyrinth of Love

© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

 

See more...

 

Set on Flickr - Rambert Dance Company's 'Labyrinth of Love'

Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

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Labyrinth of love from a different angle as seen from the dress circle. Shame that the lighting designers insist on such low lighting that we can not see the faces of the dancers.

 

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Margaret Donlon's Labyrinth of Love

 

 

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Stephen Wright, Hannah Rudd and Kirsty Hopkins

 

More views from upstairs on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

Edited by johnross
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Shame that the lighting designers insist on such low lighting that we can not see the faces of the dancers.

 

It is! The fashion seems to be 'gloom designers', rather than lighting designers. I'd much rather see the dancing, than the lighting effects, no matter how good and clever they are - and not just as a photographer, but as a punter too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

It is! The fashion seems to be 'gloom designers', rather than lighting designers. I'd much rather see the dancing, than the lighting effects, no matter how good and clever they are - and not just as a photographer, but as a punter too.

 

Indeed. I've just spent part of the evening at BRB trying to tell Tyrone Singleton and Brandon Lawrence apart without being able to see either man's head/face properly, or distinguish subtleties of skin tone. In the end, it came down to "Well, he's dancing with Celine Gittens, so presumably that's Tyrone".

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