REVIEW: RESOLUTION 17 -
The Way They Were Then
Resolution 17
Robin Howard Dance Theatre
25 February 2017
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Review by Fiona Yates
Feet off the Ground Dance’s The Way They Were Then, builds from dramatic stills to a strong quartet. Sophie Thorpe and Patricia Zafra then perform a playful duet, as Robyn Holder sits looking on and Lucia Chocarro intriguingly sets out origami boats. It’s Chocarro who really drives the performance home with an exquisite solo. Her movement is lithe and powerful with sexy, animalistic twitches driven by Alex Paton’s live brass. It’s the kind of solo that makes you itch to join in and as the piece comes to a close the other three do just that. Resolution 2017 definitely went out with a bang!
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Review by Ka Bradley
Moving into thematic obscurity is Feet Off the Ground Dance’s The Way We Were Then. Inspired by Eduardo Galeano’s Mujeres, [Women], this pieces sees four female dancers locked in a changing, lively, violent, loving dynamic.
For anyone unfamiliar with the Galeano’s collection – as I am not – The Way We Were Then does not so much tell stories as it suggests an undercurrent of narrative. Sometimes this is frustrating, but individual ‘stories’ within the bigger piece express enough to make up for it. Sophie Thorpe and Patricia Zafra’s gentle duet, face-to-face and walking one another across the stage as a mother would a toddler balanced on her feet, aches with a tender restraint (though their relationship is never made explicit). Lucia Chocarro’s stunning solo, watched with shy and amused interest by the other three performers, is a sensuous riot (though it’s not clear why she is rioting, or why she is being watched). Lithe and bold, Chocarro evokes the adrenalin of rebellion, defiance and joy in the self through her floor-sweeping twitches.
Drawing heavily on the practice of contact improv and once again supported by a lone musician with a live soundtrack, The Way We Were Then is opaque but absorbing. As the final work of a festival devoted to allowing emerging choreographers to experiment and explore, it felt triumphantly fitting.
REVIEW: KALEIDOSCOPIC ARTS PLATFORM
The Way They Were Then
Fourth Edition
Wansworth Arts Fringe
Wilditch Community Centre, Battersea
19 May 2017
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Review by Maria Hardcastle
'... The collective provides the most exciting piece of the evening. It ticks all the boxes from impressive aesthetics with their complex virtuosic movement to emotive depth with their complicated relationships and character work that leads the audience on an enchanting journey...'
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Review by Michael Davies
'...The troupe made use the whole performance space and certainly ‘let rip’. This was the most dynamic piece of the evening, especially with the live score performed on a number of instruments by Alex Baton, taking the ambience to another level...'
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Review by Maya Pindar
'...As always, the collective hit the jackpot...The women rotate in centrifugal spins, as the live accompaniment intensifies, throwing them into their trademark fearless, full bodied and gravity defying contact improvisation. Absolutely every decision is executed with purpose and intention...'