Richard Alston Dance Company

by Jackie Keirs Oxford Playhouse 28/29 May

When asked, Richard Alston gives as one of the reasons for his continuing development as a choreographer the fact that audiences seem genuinely to enjoy his work. If the response to performances last week is anything to go by he will be able to draw on our applause for many more years of inspiration! There was a ‘buzz’ in the audience (a significant word – I will explain later!), with repeated calls for the dancers to return front of stage for our congratulation.

A programme to celebrate Alston’s sixtieth birthday and four decades of work as a choreographer, this was a fittingly diverse tribute to a life of experiment with his chosen form; a working life which has revealed Alston’s ability to develop and change, but retained at its heart a profound love of music, described by Alston as ‘the doorway to the dance’.

The opening piece, Blow Over, had its first performance at Sadler’s Wells in October 2008. In Alston’s words it ‘celebrates the immediacy of the Pop singing voice’, with two Songs from Liquid Days by Philip Glass, Changing Opinion and Lightning and the ‘elusive’ lyrics of Suzanne Vega and Paul Simon.

In Changing Opinion, historical time – the time of the creation of the piece - plays an important part. Alston says that he experienced the words and ‘sense of volume’ in the music as reflections of a new liberal energy in the world, embodied in America by the coming of Barack Obama. The song speaks of a ‘hum’ in the room. Another word for this, according to Alston, could well be ‘buzz’, the buzz of new thought, new ideas, of changing opinions.

The piece starts with a male and female dancer performing a vocabulary of clear extensions, of direct, powerful movement together. They are joined by a group of dancers, ‘the community’, and given new strength to evolve on their own. Throughout the dancers sparkled with energy, alive to every challenge as individuals met and parted, groups formed, dissolved, and streamed into the space.

Lightning is true to its title, starting with a flash of stage light which transmits its energy to the dancers as they fly across the stage, the initial solo by Pierre Tappon establishing a vibrant dynamic. Against a dark screen, Peter Todd’s metallic silver and black costumes reflect the brilliant white light thrown on them by Lighting Designer, Charles Balfour, and the space is filled with exultant life.

Alston takes the central idea for Movements from Petrushka from Fokine’s ballet created in 1911 for the Ballets Russes. Stravinsky’s complex orchestral score is here expertly rendered on just one instrument by pianist Jason Ridgway, while flown above is a mystical painted cloth depicting blue-black demons, their flashing tongues scars of red: an image taken from the original design by Benois. Costumes are simple white tunics and dark, full trousers, reminiscent of Russian peasant garb.

In Danse Russe we see boys and girls in Carnival mode performing fast and furious sets of steps, kicks and jumps, clearly based on the vocabulary of Russian folk dances. Petrushka, sensitively performed by Ira Mandela Siobhan/Pierre Tappon, enters; with swirling arms, jagged stretches, distortions and falls he conveys the alienation and inner torment of the puppet figure, whose suffering Alston compares with that of Nijinsky, the extraordinary dancer chosen to premiere the role. The tortured movements of Petrushka jar ever more with the joyful dance of the crowd until finally they become aware of him; but he remains distant and alone, even in his ultimate gesture.

Here the company clearly and movingly defines the essence of the piece, the result of an artistic collaboration (choreographer, dancers, costume/lighting and set designers) just as successful as that for the 1911 ballet. Working on a much reduced scale they reveal themselves capable of achieving an equally profound effect.

To Dance and Skylark, made only this year by choreographer, Martin Lawrence, uses two of Bach’s Brandenburg concertos: No 3, unusual in that it has violas but no violins, and No 2, with its spectacular introduction of trumpet. The dancers, looking svelte in short shorts and tops, (shades of blue and grey for No 3, red and orange for No 2) whirl across the space as if blown on gusts of wind, sometimes meeting to take part in quirky duets or group exchanges. Speed is of the essence, except in one slow duet, beautifully performed by Anneli Binder and Ira Mandela Siobhan, and vivid light enhances the physicality of the form throughout.

So we raced joyfully to the end, the audience eager to congratulate the ‘team’ (one of Alston’s favourite words for his dancers and collaborators) on their achievement. Surely we will have played our part in inspiring Alston to give us yet more reason to delight!

Richard Alston Dance Company’s next performances:
Tuesday 16th, Wednesday 17th June
The Place, Dukes Road WC1H 9PY
Box Office 0207 121 1100
www.theplace.org.uk