Tuesday 17 February 2015

Dance: Resolution (February 11th 1963, Unsettled, Apocalypse Y)

I do like contemporary dance, and I don't see enough of it. Well, I'll see enough of it this week, because I just booked for four nights of Resolution, a showcase for new dance, held in The Place. Pity I didn't book them all together, I'd have got 30% off! but I wasn't expecting to be going tomorrow night as well. When I discovered I was, I checked the remaining nights, and ended up booking three together (Wed - Fri) for a 20% discount.

The location is near Euston Station, so the Victoria Line shall be seeing a lot of me this week! The shows don't start until 8, but I still managed to cut it fine - and then just missed a direct Tube from West Brompton to Victoria. I had to wait five minutes for the next, and then change from that at Earl's Court and wait another five minutes for one to Victoria.. vexing isn't the word. I got a seat on both trains, but gratefully extracted myself from a crammed carriage at Euston and went up escalator after frustrating escalator, finally emerging into the mainline station.

Thank goodness I was here last year for a training course just across the road, and knew I had to pass the training centre tonight. And thank goodness I remembered the way! It's a confusing place. Keep right upon exiting the Tube, basically. Then right upon exiting the station, second left and first right. Which was fine until I got to that last right turn, and found myself at the wrong side of a crossroads, with very heavy traffic and no crossing!

So that cost more precious minutes, but finally I was headed down the right road, to the second building on the left - an incongruously old-fashioned one, in such a modern neighbourhood. I found the box office, and had to queue behind someone enquiring about dance classes. I was just over five minutes late. The guy at the box office reassured me that although I'd miss the first, I could go in for the others. But the last of the three people I dealt with on my way in told me I could sit in the back straight away, and head to my proper seat at the interval.

And that's what I did. The view from up at the back is fine anyway! I did miss the start of "February 11th, 1963", although I got a fair idea of what it was about. Sure enough, when I had a chance to read the free programme they'd given me, I discovered it was all about Sylvia Plath, frustration, and despair. That'll be why they were rending their clothes, then. The title refers to the date of her suicide.

Each night has three dances, with intervals between, and we were asked to leave the auditorium between each pair of dances. Unfortunately, I had to take all my stuff with me, as I was changing seat, and then was too late to get a seat in the tiny lobby bar area, so ended up rather uncomfortably propped against a wall for that first interval.

When I took my front row seat for the second performance, I discovered the stage was flush with the floor - so I'd be very close to the action. These second two dances, unlike the first, required no props, and frankly I prefer them. I think it allows the imagination more scope. Doesn't hurt to be close, either. Anyway, "Unsettled" took as its subject the true story of a politically oppressed man. And was very effective at communicating that.

I was out quicker for the second interval, being at ground level now, and left my coat on my seat. So I managed to bag a corner of a sofa, and had a much more comfortable time. The final performance was "Apocalypse Y", and for me was the most effective of the night. It didn't even pretend to be about much, save the end of the world, breakdown of society - that kind of thing. Hey, Justin Bieber was torn apart by wild dogs - can't be bad! The music worked well, and I felt more engaged with this piece than the others.

But roll on more of the same, for the next three nights! You can apparently leave feedback on a wall of the lobby bar, and each night there are two reviewers, who post reviews on The Place's website within 24 hours...

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