The [Sadler's Wells] Associates: London, February 2015

[zxDaveM]

Foteini Christofilopoulou was at the dress rehearsal for 'The Associates' (Crystal Pite, Kate Prince, Hofesh Shechter) at Sadlers Wells. Here are some example photos:

 

Smile: Tommy Franzén (dir - Kate Prince)
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

A Picture of You Falling: Peter Chu (chore Crystal Pite) 
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

The barbarians in love: Hofesh Shechter Company
© Foteini Christofilopoulou. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

 

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Set from DanceTabs: The Associates
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

[occasionalballetgoer]

Did anyone go to this? I'd love to know if anyone else found the music much too loud for comfort (threshold of pain!) and the speech so distorted as to be almost unintelligible.

[SheilaC]

I presume you are referring to the last piece, by Shechter. Yes, I found the music too strident, even aggressive, and the piece as a whole far too long, self indulgent and pretentious. But some of the choreography was interesting and the dancers were very good. The first piece, Smile, was the most accessible, being based on the Chaplin character and with popular music, but too long and didn't fully bring out the pathos of Chaplin. The best piece was Crystal Pite's, interesting use of text, voiced beautifully, very good dancers and an interesting concept.

[Coated]

Interestingly everyone talks about the Shechter as being too loud, but I found the sound for 'Smile' nearly unbearable with its extremely pounding bass (not everything is better when turned up to 11). It didn't help that I loathed the shallow Chaplin shtick as well.

 

The Pite piece did draw me in despite my stony mood after Smile (yes, I can see the irony), and it was the most polished out of the 3.

 

I rather liked the Shechter and it's declaration of mid-life crisis, though I can see that it would not be everyone's cup of tea. The angle grinder sound was a bit tiresome, but the voice over etc was fairly clear and not distorted where I was sitting.

 

I generally find the sound system at Sadlers Wells miserable at best, though I noticed (or imagine) that visiting companies just don't crank it up so badly.

Edited February 9, 2015 by Coated