{"id":61,"date":"2003-06-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-06-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.idanca.net\/2003\/06\/02\/jornada-de-estreia\/"},"modified":"2008-06-13T18:36:43","modified_gmt":"2008-06-13T21:36:43","slug":"jornada-de-estreia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idanca.net\/jornada-de-estreia\/","title":{"rendered":"Jornada de estr\u00e9ia | Maiden voyage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Este texto \u00e9 oferecido em portugu\u00eas pelo British Council.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tradu\u00e7\u00e3o de Simone Guimar\u00e3es.<\/p>\n

Minha primeir\u00edssima visita \u00e0 cria\u00e7\u00e3o de Laban em Deptford Creek, no sudeste de Londres, ocorreu em mar\u00e7o de 2001. Eu me achava no que acabaria se tornando o palco do novo Bonnie Bird Theatre sob um c\u00e9u cinzento, carregado de \u00e1gua, afundada na lama at\u00e9 os tornozelos e cercada por guindastes e pessoal de obra. Essa mem\u00f3ria do teatro, em uma fase t\u00e3o crua e embrion\u00e1ria, pairou por quase dois anos at\u00e9 que, junto com 299 outras pessoas, tomei assento em um c\u00e1lido audit\u00f3rio, revestido de madeira, e fitei, com expectativa, a superf\u00edcie suave e brilhante abaixo de mim.<\/p>\n

Embora o Laban tivesse retomado suas atividades como institui\u00e7\u00e3o de treinamento em dan\u00e7a no in\u00edcio do novo ano letivo, em setembro de 2002, em seguida \u00e0 mudan\u00e7a de New Cross para Deptford no \u00faltimo ver\u00e3o, grande parte da expectativa do p\u00fablico foi reservada para o seu status renovado de espa\u00e7o importante para exibi\u00e7\u00e3o de dan\u00e7a. O material impresso de apoio \u00e0 institui\u00e7\u00e3o enfatiza bastante a instala\u00e7\u00e3o do novo teatro de 300 lugares, situado tanto geogr\u00e1fica como ideologicamente, “no cora\u00e7\u00e3o do edif\u00edcio, refletindo que o espet\u00e1culo de dan\u00e7a \u00e9 central em tudo o que fazemos”. Mais imediatamente, a inaugura\u00e7\u00e3o oficial do teatro foi uma ocasi\u00e3o p\u00fablica significativa para o Laban, representando, para muitos, a primeira oportunidade real de vivenciar por si mesmos esta nova constru\u00e7\u00e3o no estado da arte. Com toda a aten\u00e7\u00e3o da m\u00eddia – cobertura dos not\u00edci\u00e1rios local e nacional, bem como o mais \u00f3bvio interesse da imprensa especializada em dan\u00e7a e arquitetura -, um dos eventos de proa no calend\u00e1rio da dan\u00e7a finalmente chegou, ao abrir o Laban suas portas para uma plat\u00e9ia entusi\u00e1stica e inquisitiva, no programa inaugural do teatro em 17 de fevereiro deste ano. Tudo foi habilmente projetado para englobar a qualidade, diversidade e a hist\u00f3ria recente da cria\u00e7\u00e3o na dan\u00e7a brit\u00e2nica contempor\u00e2nea em uma s\u00e9rie de uma semana de programa\u00e7\u00f5es duplas, exibindo as realiza\u00e7\u00f5es de Charles Linehan, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant, Rosemary Butcher, Jonathan Burrows e Wendy Houstoun.<\/p>\n

A multiplicidade e a colabora\u00e7\u00e3o foram temas significativos e pertinentes, refletindo a filosofia essencial por tr\u00e1s da id\u00e9ia de Laban. Projetado por Herzog e de Meuron, arquitetos premiados pela Tate Modern, em conjunto com o artista visual Michael Craig-Martin, o pr\u00e9dio desponta como um testemunho f\u00edsico da rela\u00e7\u00e3o funcional entre os mundos da dan\u00e7a, arte e arquitetura. Da mesma forma, muitas das obras apresentadas durante o programa de lan\u00e7amento resultaram da culmina\u00e7\u00e3o do aporte criativo de artistas de uma mir\u00edade de \u00e1reas: core\u00f3grafos, dan\u00e7arinos, compositores, cineastas, artistas e projetistas visuais.<\/p>\n

O esp\u00edrito de iniciativa criadora provavelmente n\u00e3o foi mais direto e sem subterf\u00fagios do que no trabalho dos atuais \u00eddolos da dan\u00e7a brit\u00e2nica Akram Khan e Russell Maliphant. A primeira obra de longa dura\u00e7\u00e3o, produzida por Khan para si pr\u00f3prio e sua companhia de quatro dan\u00e7arinos, Kaash, que fez sua estr\u00e9ia no ano passado no Royal Festival Hall, \u00e9 o produto da muito divulgada alian\u00e7a do core\u00f3grafo com o m\u00fasico e compositor Nitin Sawhney e com o aclamado escultor e artista visual Anish Kapoor. Nesse meio tempo, o core\u00f3grafo Maliphant, a compositora Sarah Sarhandi e o iluminador Michael Hulls ganharam, no ano passado, um Pr\u00eamio Time Out Live por Not\u00e1vel Colabora\u00e7\u00e3o em Sheer, o sombrio e melanc\u00f3lico pas de deux que fechou o programa triplo de Maliphant no festival Dance Umbrella de 2001. Ambas as pe\u00e7as exibiram seus elementos multifacetados, com n\u00edveis variados de sucesso. Em Kaash, o enorme cen\u00e1rio retangular, indutor de vertigens, proporcionou uma estrutura constante para Khan e seus dan\u00e7arinos, conforme seus membros deslizavam com confian\u00e7a atrav\u00e9s da escurid\u00e3o, perfurando o vazio circundante. Por vezes, pareciam cair ou voar pelo espa\u00e7o, fa\u00edscas luminescentes emanando de suas pr\u00f3prias \u00f3rbitas; em outros momentos, estavam plantados, atra\u00eddos pela gravidade da terra e pelo peso de seus corpos num padr\u00e3o recorrente de ascens\u00e3o e queda. O pulso err\u00e1tico da m\u00fasica de Sawhney criava um pano de fundo auditivo vibrante e um outro n\u00edvel de estimula\u00e7\u00e3o. Cada camada do trabalho – movimento, som e escultura – alimentava ininterruptamente a explora\u00e7\u00e3o de Khan dos “espa\u00e7os vazios no pr\u00f3prio espa\u00e7o”. Kaash revelou a quietude embutida no movimento e o sil\u00eancio embutido no som, exemplificados em um perfeito e eletrizante momento, quando a companhia forma um c\u00edrculo que rodeia o palco, os corpos est\u00e1ticos e enraizados, qual um Stonehenge humano, enquanto o ritmo fren\u00e9tico da tabla, um instrumento de percuss\u00e3o indiano, fervilhava \u00e0 sua volta, construindo um cl\u00edmax antes da imobilidade ser rompida com o deslocar afirmativo de um membro, silenciando a m\u00fasica e desfazendo a magia. A imagem que ficou gravada na minha consci\u00eancia foi a do est\u00e1tico n\u00facleo azul dentro do amarelo cintilante de uma chama que queima.<\/p>\n

Em compara\u00e7\u00e3o, o resultado do processo de colabora\u00e7\u00e3o em Sheer mostrou-se desapontadoramente unidimensional, em disparidade com a aclama\u00e7\u00e3o recebida da cr\u00edtica. Embora o trabalho, sem sombra de d\u00favida, tivesse clima, come\u00e7ando pela insidiosa e sussurrante trilha sonora de Sarhandi e conduzindo-se pela explora\u00e7\u00e3o de silhuetas e sombras de Hull, no todo Sheer n\u00e3o foi al\u00e9m de um tema de uma nota s\u00f3, repetitivo e mon\u00f3tono. Esta foi para mim sua segunda apresenta\u00e7\u00e3o e confirmou tristemente minha opini\u00e3o de que a coreografia \u00e9 o elemento mais fraco nessa obra. A tens\u00e3o criada nos momentos iniciais dissipou-se rapidamente quando Maliphant e sua parceira Anna Williams entraram em contato f\u00edsico. Embora ambos sejam bailarinos experientes e consumados, a parceria resultou canhestra: os levantamentos foram elaborados sem qualquer elemento de risco ou surpresa, precedidos por sup\u00e9rfluos floreios de bal\u00e9 que antecipavam ao p\u00fablico o que iria acontecer segundos depois. Enfim, Sheer de alguma maneira n\u00e3o conseguiu agregar \u00e0 soma de suas partes e, \u00e0 medida que a pe\u00e7a caminhava para o seu final, me deixou mais uma vez frustrada pela agita\u00e7\u00e3o em torno dela.<\/p>\n

Cada programa individual foi, at\u00e9 certo ponto, uma noite de contrastes, mas isto n\u00e3o ficou mais patente do que na noite de abertura, quando o dinamismo fogoso de Kaash foi precedido por Grand Junction, um dueto sutil, em tom s\u00e9pia, criado por Charles Linehan. Geralmente tido como menos “na moda” do que Khan ou Maliphant, a Linehan faltao exibicionismo de alguns de seus contempor\u00e2neos, em uma \u00e9poca em que \u00e9 desmedido o culto da “personalidade”, um fen\u00f4meno ao qual o mundo da dan\u00e7a certamente n\u00e3o est\u00e1 imune. Contudo, a qualidade contida e reflexiva de seu trabalho e a falta de sua presen\u00e7a f\u00edsica nas pr\u00f3prias pe\u00e7as devem provavelmente ter resultado em sua injusta subestima\u00e7\u00e3o. Em Grand Junction, a postura retra\u00edda dos dan\u00e7arinos Greig Cooke e Andreja Rauch deram uma falsa no\u00e7\u00e3o das complexidades do seu dueto, \u00e0 medida que se enroscavam, desdobravam e cambaleavam por seus corredores separados de luz, juntando-se em um bolo espor\u00e1dico de \u00e2nsia, incerteza e revuls\u00e3o. Assistir a aquela dan\u00e7a era como perscrutar de um \u00fanico \u00e2ngulo, \u00e0 semelhan\u00e7a de uma mosca na parede, \u00e0 medida que as mais rec\u00f4nditas \u00e1reas do relacionamento humano eram desnudadas, conservando, no entanto, os protagonistas com sua dignidade intacta. Comparados com a auto-confian\u00e7a bruta dos dan\u00e7arinos de Khan, eles pareciam vulner\u00e1veis e humanos e, \u00e0 medida que a pe\u00e7a se desenrolava, gestos pequenos e simples – o aceno de uma m\u00e3o, o giro da cabe\u00e7a -adquiriam um significado adicional dentro do contexto de seu relacionamento exposto. O agudo senso de tempo e controle de Linehan, que sabe exatamente quando e em que grau ajustar a temperatura emocional de seu trabalho, sugere uma profunda compreens\u00e3o da psique humana, e o seu delicado profissionalismo e olhar para a beleza das coisas singelas s\u00e3o qualidades que n\u00e3o deveriam ser subestimadas.<\/p>\n

Outros temas comuns \u00e0 programa\u00e7\u00e3o foram os de processo, desenvolvimento e renova\u00e7\u00e3o, com nada de particularmente not\u00e1vel a esse respeito em qualquer dos eventos que testemunham uma mescla de atividades art\u00edsticas, mas que pareciam particularmente apropriados sempre que a lembran\u00e7a do meu atravessar uma enlameada \u00e1rea de constru\u00e7\u00e3o me cruzava o esp\u00edrito ao caminhar pelos jardins semi-formados e pelo espa\u00e7oso foyer do pr\u00e9dio. Salientaram-se principalmente no meio da semana, per\u00edodo que foi dedicado \u00e0s obras minimalistas de Jonathan Burrows e Rosemary Butcher. Burrows fez uma reapresenta\u00e7\u00e3o de Singing, originalmente criada por ele em 1999 com a colega Lynne Bristow, ex-bailarina do Royal Ballet. Trata-se de uma dan\u00e7a depurada em seus elementos b\u00e1sicos de forma, espa\u00e7o e ritmo, despida de qualquer embelezamento ou cor emocional; um trabalho em que os blocos construtivos da cria\u00e7\u00e3o do movimento eram transparentes e se apresentavam independentemente desses acess\u00f3rios teatrais convencionais, como a ilumina\u00e7\u00e3o dram\u00e1tica, o vestu\u00e1rio ou o projeto c\u00eanico. Rosemary Butcher, entrementes, apresentou, em seguida ao seu curta metragem Undercurrent – um fascinante estudo de peso e \u00e1gua realizado em conjunto com a diretora de filmes Cathy Greenhalg -, um igualmente hipn\u00f3tico novo trabalho solo, denominado Images Every 3 Seconds. Durante todo o tempo da pe\u00e7a, a dan\u00e7arina Elena Giannotti ficou confinada dentro de um quadrado de luz claramente demarcado, mas um trabalho que, a princ\u00edpio, parecia voltado \u00e0 explora\u00e7\u00e3o dos limites f\u00edsicos, acabou gradualmente se revelando como um exerc\u00edcio em repeti\u00e7\u00e3o. Do mesmo modo como uma palavra pode se tornar sem sentido se for repetida demasiadas vezes, reduzida ao n\u00edvel fundamental de vogal e consoante dentro da s\u00edlaba, assim se passou com o movimento. \u00c0 medida que Giannotti executava o mesmo movimento b\u00e1sico por vezes sem conta, vi-me distra\u00edda pelos aspectos mais inconseq\u00fcentes, tais como o ziguezague da luz por sua clav\u00edcula ou o ritmo arrastado do som dos seus p\u00e9s esfregando o ch\u00e3o. Ambas as pe\u00e7as pareciam \u00e0s vezes em desacordo com os seus ambientes, as sutilezas do trabalho perdidas nesse cen\u00e1rio tradicionalmente teatral; teriam provavelmente sido melhor apresentadas em uma montagem em est\u00fadio menor. Enquanto movimentos de investiga\u00e7\u00e3o do processo coreogr\u00e1fico, por\u00e9m, mostraram-se atraentes e esclarecedoras.<\/p>\n

Como fecho do programa, Wendy Houstoun estreou a sua mais recente cria\u00e7\u00e3o, The 48 Almost Love Lyrics, uma demonstra\u00e7\u00e3o de sua inimit\u00e1vel capacidade de mesclar mon\u00f3logo dram\u00e1tico, apresenta\u00e7\u00e3o de dan\u00e7a e com\u00e9dia falada com um peda\u00e7o de filme inserido em boa medida. Esta representa\u00e7\u00e3o de uma “artista que envelhece”, tentando escapar ao anonimato da massa foi mostrada mais como uma s\u00e9rie de id\u00e9ias arbitr\u00e1rias do que como um trabalho acabado, mas estas flu\u00edam densa e rapidamente, encadeadas pela presen\u00e7a e desempenho inteligente e carism\u00e1tico de Houstoun. Pernas, Bra\u00e7os e Torso foram apresentados como personagens em uma de uma seq\u00fc\u00eancia de subtramas bizarras, amea\u00e7ando fugir consigo mesmos e exaurindo sua narradora no processo, antes de se aproximarem de algo semelhante a uma conclus\u00e3o, na qual ela \u00e9 deixada, em \u00faltima an\u00e1lise, sozinha, com nada mais do que a sua cole\u00e7\u00e3o de discos e as lembran\u00e7as que despertam – as 48 can\u00e7\u00f5es quase amorosas do t\u00edtulo. Os momentos em que a obra n\u00e3o conseguiu al\u00e7ar v\u00f4o foram, exatamente, aqueles em que o foco se deslocava de Houstoun para o filme, um elemento que, aparentemente, tinha pouca conex\u00e3o com a apresenta\u00e7\u00e3o ao vivo e que me levantou a leve suspeita de ser introduzido, em intervalos regulares, simplesmente com a finalidade de permitir um momento de repouso “\u00e0 artista que envelhece”. Comparada \u00e0 vivacidade e espontaneidade da pessoa de Houstoun ao vivo, n\u00e3o se pode esperar que a natureza fixa e premeditada do filme tenha condi\u00e7\u00f5es de competir. Contudo, fiquei com a suspeita de que a estr\u00e9ia deste trabalho n\u00e3o configurou um produto acabado, mas sim, um est\u00e1gio de um longo processo de pesquisa e experimenta\u00e7\u00e3o, o que deu \u00e0quela exibi\u00e7\u00e3o uma qualidade singular e org\u00e2nica.<\/p>\n

A miscel\u00e2nea de id\u00e9ias e a diversidade de meios utilizados na obra de Houstoun foram indicativas do esp\u00edrito geral do programa de lan\u00e7amento, com reflexos de sucesso por todo o evento. A presen\u00e7a de luminares como Butcher e Burrows, ao lado de artistas de reconhecimento mais recente, destacou a hist\u00f3ria rica e vibrante da dan\u00e7a contempor\u00e2nea brit\u00e2nica, ao mesmo tempo em que forneceu possibilidades de m\u00faltiplas dire\u00e7\u00f5es para a conforma\u00e7\u00e3o dessa arte em cont\u00ednuo desenvolvimento, indicando um fant\u00e1stico futuro pela frente.<\/p>\n

Tendo pessoalmente visto no que se transformou o canteiro de obras em Deptford Creek, n\u00e3o creio que possa ter havido uma forma mais adequada de promover o lan\u00e7amento do novo teatro de Laban.<\/p>\n

Diane Parker \u00e9 uma redatora freelance de dan\u00e7a.<\/strong><\/span>My very first visit to the Laban development in Deptford Creek, South East London, was in March 2001. I stood on what was eventually to become the stage of the new Bonnie Bird Theatre under a grey waterlogged sky, ankle-deep in mud and surrounded by cranes and construction workers. This memory of the theatre in such a raw, embryonic phase surfaced almost two years later as, along with 299 others, I took a seat in the warm, wood-panelled auditorium and gazed down expectantly at the smooth, gleaming surface below me.<\/p>\n

Though Laban resumed its business as a dance training institution at the beginning of the new academic year in September 2002, following the move last summer from New Cross to Deptford, much of the public anticipation has been reserved for its renewed status as a major dance performance venue. The supporting literature for the institution places a good deal of emphasis on its brand new 300-seat theatre being placed, both geographically and ideologically, ‘at the heart of the building, reflecting that dance performance is central to everything we do’. More immediately, the official opening of the theatre was a significant public occasion for Laban, one that represented the first real opportunity for many to experience the new state-of-the-art building for themselves. After all the media attention – the local and national news coverage as well as the more obvious interest from the specialist dance and architecture presses – one of the key events in the dance calendar finally arrived when Laban opened its doors to an enthusiastic and inquisitive dance audience with its inaugural theatre programme on 17 February this year. This was skilfully designed to encapsulate the quality, diversity and recent history of British contemporary dance-making in a week-long series of double bills featuring the work of Charles Linehan, Akram Khan, Russell Maliphant, Rosemary Butcher, Jonathan Burrows and Wendy Houstoun.<\/p>\n

Multiplicity and collaboration were significant and appropriate themes, reflecting an essential philosophy behind the Laban project. Designed by award-winning Tate Modern architects Herzog and de Meuron in conjunction with visual artist Michael Craig-Martin, the building stands as physical testament to a working relationship between the worlds of dance, art and architecture. In the same way, much of the work performed throughout the launch programme was the culmination of creative input from artists of myriad disciplines: choreographers, dancers, composers, film-makers, visual artists and designers.<\/p>\n

The spirit of creative enterprise was probably no more upfront and in-your-face than in the work of current Brit-dance idols Akram Khan and Russell Maliphant. Khan’s first full-length work for himself and his company of four dancers, Kaash, which premiered last year at the Royal Festival Hall is the product of the choreographer’s much-publicised alliance with musician and composer Nitin Sawhney and acclaimed sculptor and visual artist Anish Kapoor. Meanwhile, choreographer Maliphant, composer Sarah Sarhandi and lighting designer Michael Hulls won a Time Out Live Award for Outstanding Collaboration last year for Sheer, the shadowy and rather sombre pas de deux which closed Maliphant’s triple-bill performance at the 2001 Dance Umbrella festival. Both pieces demonstrated their multi-faceted elements with varying degrees of success. In Kaash, Kapoor’s huge, rectangular, vertigo-inducing backdrop provided a constant frame for Khan and his dancers as their limbs confidently sliced through the darkness, puncturing the surrounding void. At times they appeared to fall or fly through space, luminescent sparks spinning off in their own individual orbits; at other moments, they were grounded, drawn by gravity and the weight of their bodies towards the earth in a recurrent pattern of rising and falling. The erratic pulse of Sawhney’s music provided a vibrant aural backdrop and another level of stimulation. Each layer of the work – movement, sound and sculpture – fed seamlessly into Khan’s exploration of ‘the empty spaces in space itself.’ Kaash unfolded to reveal the stillness that lies within motion, and the silence within sound, exemplified in one perfect spine-tingling moment in which the entire company formed a circle that encompassed the stage, their bodies motionless and rooted, like a human Stonehenge, whilst the frenetic tabla rhythm boiled around them, building to a climax before the stillness was broken with the assertive sweep of a limb, silencing the music and breaking the spell. The prevailing image branded upon my consciousness was that of the static blue core that nestles within the flickering yellow of a burning flame.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the product of the collaborative process that went into Sheer seemed disappointingly one-dimensional, at odds with the critical acclaim it has received. Though the work was undoubtedly atmospheric, opening with Sarhandi’s insidious whispering soundtrack and moving into Hulls’s investigation of silhouette and shadow, overall Sheer was a one-note tune, repetitive and monotonous. This was a second viewing for me and it sadly confirmed my opinion that the choreography is the weakest element in this piece. The tension that was created in the initial moments dissipated rapidly once Maliphant and his partner Anna Williams made physical contact. Though both are accomplished and experienced dancers, the partnering was clumsy and the lifts were laboured and lacked any element of risk or surprise, preceded by superfluous balletic flourishes that showed us what was going to happen seconds before it did. Ultimately, Sheer somehow failed to add up to the sum of its parts and as the piece drifted towards its demise, I was left once more baffled by the hype.<\/p>\n

Each individual programme was an evening of contrasts to some degree, but this was no more apparent than on the opening night, when the fiery dynamism of Kaash was preceded by Charles Linehan’s subtle, sepia-toned duet, Grand Junction. Generally regarded as less ‘in vogue’ than either Khan or Maliphant, Linehan lacks the showmanship of some of his contemporaries at a time when the veneration of ‘personality’ is rampant – a phenomenon to which the dance world is certainly not immune. Yet the restrained and thoughtful quality of his work and his lack of physical presence in his own pieces have probably resulted in him being unfairly underrated. In Grand Junction, the self-contained poise of dancers Greig Cooke and Andreja Rauch belied the complexities of their duet as they coiled, unfurled and faltered through their separate corridors of light, coming together in sporadic knots of longing, uncertainty and revulsion. Watching their dance was like peering from an angle, as if a fly on the wall, as the most intimate areas of a human relationship were laid bare, while somehow leaving the protagonists with their dignity intact. Compared to the brute self-assurance of Khan’s dancers, they appeared vulnerable and human, and as the piece progressed, small and simple gestures – the wave of a hand, the turn of a head – took on extra significance within the context of their unfolding relationship. Linehan’s keen sense of timing and control, knowing exactly when and by what degree to fine-tune the emotional temperature of his work, suggest a deep understanding of the human psyche, and his delicate workmanship and eye for the beauty of ordinariness are qualities that should not be undervalued.<\/p>\n

Other common themes identified throughout the programme were those of process, development and renewal – nothing particularly noteworthy about these at any event that bears witness to a melange of artistic activity, but they did seem particularly apt whenever the memory of striding over a muddy building site slipped across my awareness as I moved through the semi-landscaped gardens and into the spacious foyer of the building. They were particularly evident during the middle of the week, which was devoted to the minimalist works of Jonathan Burrows and Rosemary Butcher. Burrows presented a revival of Singing, a piece he originally made in 1999 with fellow ex-Royal Ballet dancer Lynne Bristow. This was dance pared down to its basic elements of shape, space and rhythm, lacking any embellishment or emotional colour; a work in which the building blocks of movement creation were transparent and presented independently of such conventional theatrical devices as dramatic lighting, costume, or set design. Rosemary Butcher, meanwhile, followed her short film, Undercurrent – a mesmerising study of weight and water made in conjunction with film-maker Cathy Greenhalgh – with an equally hypnotic new solo work, Images Every 3 Seconds. For the duration of the piece, dancer Elena Giannotti was confined within a clearly demarcated square of light, but a work that at first appeared to be concerned with the exploration of physical boundaries gradually revealed itself as an exercise in repetition. In the same way that a word can become meaningless if repeated often enough, broken down to the fundamental design of vowel and consonant within syllable, so it was with movement. As Giannotti performed the same basic movement over and over again, I found myself becoming drawn to the most inconsequential elements, such as the way the light zig-zagged across her clavicle or the rhythmic shuffling sound of her feet brushing the floor. Both of these pieces did at times seem slightly at odds with their surroundings, the subtleties of the work lost within such a traditionally theatrical environment, and would perhaps have been better placed within a smaller studio setting. But as explorations of choreographic process, they were both engaging and enlightening.<\/p>\n

To close the programme, Wendy Houstoun presented the premiere of her new work, The 48 Almost Love Lyrics, demonstrating her inimitable blend of dramatic monologue, dance performance and stand-up comedy routine, with a bit of film thrown in for good measure. This tale of an ‘ageing performer’ on the run from the mob was presented more as a series of arbitrary ideas than a finished piece of work, but the ideas flowed thick and fast, and were bound up with Houston’s intelligent and charismatic performing presence. Legs, Arms and Torso were introduced as characters in one of a sequence of bizarre sub-plots, threatening to run away with themselves and exhaust their story-teller in the process, before moving towards a conclusion of sorts in which she was ultimately left alone with nothing but her record collection and the memories they invoked – the 48 almost love lyrics of the title. The moments at which the piece failed to take off were, tellingly, those when the focus switched from Houstoun to film, an element which seemed to have little connection with the live performance and aroused a sneaking suspicion in me that it was introduced at regular intervals simply to give the ‘ageing performer’ a rest. Compared to the immediacy and spontaneity of Houstoun’s live persona, the fixed and premeditated nature of film could not hope to compete. However, I suspected that the premiere of this piece signified not an end product but some stage of a long process of enquiry and experimentation, and this gave the performance a singular, organic quality.<\/p>\n

The miscellany of ideas and the variety of media at play in Houstoun’s work was indicative of the general spirit of the launch programme and successfully reflected throughout. The presence of luminaries such as Butcher and Burrows alongside more recently established artists acknowledged the rich and vibrant history of British contemporary dance whilst at the same time suggesting multi-directional possibilities for the art form as it continues to develop, indicating an exciting future ahead.<\/p>\n

And, having now seen for myself what finally became of the building site on Deptford Creek, I don’t think there could have been a more appropriate way to launch Laban’s new theatre.<\/p>\n

Diane Parker is a freelance dance writer for LDTJ.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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