Nubian Steps - review Sunday 3rd October Purcell Room South Bank

By Sophie Gray

The programme of five works was cut by one due to injury. There was however enough to feel satisfied that one had seen the range of the abilities of the performers that presented the work.

Robert Hylton's piece was a substantial work that focused on transmuting his contemporary B-Boyisms into G-Girl Grit. The girls manage to mimic his posturing and mannerisms very well , but the effort to do so begged the question of why he was attuning their femininity in this way. There were no overtly aggressive attitudes in the movement, a quirky stylised vocabulary emerged that had an indelible quality of seriousness to it though it was full of ironic humour. The simplicity of the costume design left one outstanding question as to why one of the dancers appeared without her hat on - Was her personality taking on a different face? The pace of the piece was well managed and the audience was left feeling a sense of satisfaction that they had done their very best. It set up a good foundation for the rest of the programme.

The evening carried on with this pleasing pace with some highlights chequered throughout. The theme of the evening " Proud to be Black" was reflected in the choice of music of each choreographer. They all used music that was reflective of African, American or Caribbean origin. The work of Landing Mane was captivating, it was danced at a pace and intensity that made the audience sit up boldly and clap proudly.

The dancers gave an exhausted sigh of relief as they took their bows whilst Landing had not yet broken a sweat. The final piece of the evening was choreographed by Maria Ryan; showing a new side of her choreographic invention, concerning herself with ‘Blackisms’ in a way formerly unseen. She juxtaposed very overt hip hop cliches with conventional 'new dance'- release styled movements often catching the audience unawares.

The Nubian dance theme has a sense of integrity about it and the presentation was slick and well thought through. The audience was ethnically diverse and most importantly, it sold out. Unfortunately, the programme contained no written information relating to the background of the work which could have advanced those who were experiencing this kind of dance work for the first time. The 10 dancers in the company varied in their abilities, age and experience which at times was to the detriment of the choreography. The choreographers did a handsome job, but as far as one could see there was not much risk taking involved. "Pride" had it's way. Nubian Steps will be touring nationally in the Spring of 2002.