Phoenix Dance Theatre: Requiem double bill- Leeds

[SheilaC]

In an innovative double bill based on a theme of death and remembrance,  Dane Hurst choreographed and directed both new ballets  premiered in Leeds on Friday. It was an ambitious programme that included two dance companies ( Phoenix Dance, based in Leeds, and Jazzart Dance Theatre, based in Cape Town) and two opera companies (the choruses of Opera North and of Cape Town Opera) supported by the full orchestra of Opera North, conducted by Gerry Walker, their Music Director. Dane is the previous artistic director of Phoenix, now their Artistic Consultant and Guest Choreographer, and currently the artistic director of Jazzart Dance theatre, based in Cape Town.

 

The two pieces were complementary in theme, yet contrasting in both music and dance style. Whilst both pieces explore grieving for the dead, Requiem, inspired by Mozart's final unfinished score, is shaped by religious influences from the Old and New Testaments and is full of sadness. The second piece, The After Tears, is more celebratory, after sections of mourning, and is shaped by the specially commissioned score by the South African composer, Neo Muyanga.

 

Dane Hurst's choreography for Requiem is contemporary, initially focusing on the group of 8 dancers as a whole, later concentrating on the interactions of smaller groups and of individuals, which I found even more moving. Equally impressive, the opera chorus also contributes to the movement, swaying and making gestures in unison and being moved as groups later to frame the dancers' performance, so they are integrated into the work more fully than if they were only singing. In the second piece, After Tears, After a Requiem, the choreography is not exclusively standard contemporary dance, rather it is a fusion with South African dance, related to new ideas in the townships about renewal. Whilst much of the first piece is sombre much of the latter part of the second one is vibrant, the dance reflecting the lively music and bright costumes.

 

The programme was ambitious, bringing together dance and opera companies from South Africa and Northern England. It was a total success and the response from the full audience was rapturous.

 

The project is also another milestone in the history of Phoenix, ruptured last year despite a highly successful retrospective gala. All performances were cancelled and this is, I assume, the first performance for about a year. Only one of the eight dancers has been a dancer with Phoenix previously, as far as I can make out. Phoenix has had many lives since I first saw it in a community hall in Teesside over 40 years ago as a lively group of three dynamic young black men from inner city Leeds; as its name indicates, it has risen from the ashes many times. Let's hope that it survives in these difficult times.

 

There are only a few performances between now and June 4 at the Leeds Grand Theatre. But the good news is that BBC4 will be showing a film of the programme later in the year.

[Ondine]

1 hour ago, SheilaC said:

a lively group of three dynamic young black men from inner city Leeds

 

Yes I too remember those days. Such excitement!

[Sim]

@SheilaC thanks for that lovely review, and for imparting the glad tidings of a film to be shown.    

[Ian Macmillan]

The film was on BBC4 this evening, but only featured the Mozart Requiem.  Powerful stuff, delivering a work highly penitential in nature, as implied by the Dies Irae which is so predominant in Mozart's work and which is very different in character from the Fauré version used by Kenneth MacMillan.  

[Pas de Quatre]

I have just caught up with the Mozart Requiem on iPlayer.  It is one of the best Contemporary dance pieces I have ever seen, although with such equal input from the Solo singers and chorus should it even be categorised as Dance?  I urge everyone to watch it while still available!  Congratulations to all involved but particularly Dane HUrst for his vision and choreography. 

[Ondine]

2 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

I urge everyone to watch it while still available!

 

 

It says it will be available for over a year so still time to catch up. 

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001qwpn/mozarts-requiem