Russell Maliphant's The Rodin Project

[johnross]

I apologise for the quality of the images but the season continues with lighting designers competing in who can use the lowest lighting. The dancing is very energetic as you would expect from this talented group of dancers. Suggest you eat lots of carrots before going or take night vision glasses.

 

 

 

Thomasin Gulgec, Dickson Mbi and Tommy Franzen

 

More pictures on www.johnrossballetgallery.co.uk

[alison]

And if you have time before you go, you might also want to read Graham Watt's useful background interview with Maliphant: http://londondance.com/articles/interviews/russell-maliphant-rodin-project/ (taken from Today's Links, so thanks, Ian!)

[alison]

Oops, sorry, that should have been "thanks, John"! But thanks to both for all your hard work, anyway.

[Jan McNulty]

I've taken the liberty of editing the title of this thread as I believe the work is currently being toured.  At the very least I saw it at the Lowry last night.

 

I found the whole evening absolutely mesmeric and came out feeling quite uplifted!  The work is inspired by the works of sculptor Auguste Rodin and uses a "movement vocabulary influenced by the dance forms of popping, breaking and contemporary dance integrated through Maliphant's language of flow, form and dynamics."  The piece is for 6 dancers - 3 men and 3 women.

 

For the first half the stage is covered in white cloth with a sort of white hilly thing and flowing curtainy things.  The hilly thing could be imagined as the marble freeform base of a sculture.  The girls wrap and unwrap themselves in the floating curtains.  The minimal costumes are white and possibly reminiscent of the sculpted flowing robes of ancient Greece. The movement is slow, languid and hypnotic.  Towards the end, 2 of the girls behave as though they are posing for a sculptor and there is a more confrontational feel for a duet for 2 of the men.

 

The lighting is gorgeous throughout and I found the final section surprisingly moving.  The dancers are hardly moving but the light picks out various parts of their bodies - incredibly beautiful.

 

A wondrous and satisfying evening for me.

In the second half of the evening, the white cloths have been removed and the white hilly thing has become more of a black glacial mini-mountain.  While still fluid and lyrical the movement has a more urgent tone to it with various combinations of duets, solos, whole company combinations.  The highlight is a duet for Tommy Franzen and Dickson Mbi using the vertical wall section of the mountain as though it is horizontal.  It really is stunning to watch.

[alison]

I remember it was one of the highlights for me too, when I saw it.  Thanks, Janet.