Review…

Resolution 2007

The Place, London

Reviewed by Laura Griffiths

iPod and I, Choreography: Tony Adigun and Company

Tony Adigun and his cast of dancers transport the audience through a multifaceted urban journey in ‘iPod and I’.

Welcomed by a vacant stage, Adigun’s morning routine is illustrated in a home video type cinematic projection as our iPod adventure commences. Adigun with backpack in tow, mechanically meanders through the stage. An unexpected chorus of dancers breathtakingly explode into the blank, shadowed space whilst Adigun weaves through them, sharing intermittent flickers of action as the mottled
music echoes through his veins.

A thread of narrative begins to build as Adigun voyages through his music library which acts as a quirky guide. This structure succeeds in arranging the masses of movement and movers about to descend upon the audience. The articulation of Adigun’s ‘soundtrack to life’ as it were, is mainly through a marriage of Hip Hop and contemporary dance. The realms of Hip-Hop clearly dominate the movement language, with intervals of comedy, parody and lyricism adding depth to the simplicity of the dance subject.

In an attempt to expose the way in which a choreographers’ mind works, Adigun co-exists in space with his dancers who behave as his sub-conscience. Enhanced by the juxtaposition of music genres and dance, transitions between scenes are sharp, polished and eye-catching. Spatial compositions are cleverly compact and symmetrically balanced, which is pleasing to the eye.

The use of tableau in the work allows for some spectacular images, especially the use of a flat yellow colour on the back screen against a group of dancers in blackout. This illustration plainly recreates the iconic ‘iPod’ TV ads; and such compositions reinforce the fact that Adigun’s creation is a product of the climate in which we are all living. On this level it is successful; however some abstract subtlety towards the narrative would make for a greater appreciation of Avant-Garde Dance Company.

Aside from this the movement vocabulary is casual and accessible to the audience. Adigun’s inspiration for the work is represented quite literally and reinforced with exaggerated mime, which weakens the overall display.

Flicker, Choreography: Karensa Louis

Louis expertly explores the mental and physical harm we inflict upon ourselves using her physicality as a site of contestation.

Karensa’s body expresses the notion of both acting in and acting out through its fierce, dynamic opposing behaviour. Transforming from a temperate melting substance into a serrated icy construction she survives in space roaming between different levels and tempos. With dim lights and pulsating, wooden music the underground atmosphere enlightens her character with a raw and mysterious edge. Appearing in three phases, Louis’ body reacts to a different musical score and environment in each, which most definitely keeps the audience stimulated.

In the first two instances the slow and fluvial methods she adopts, make her seem neither human nor alien, creature like her figure becomes soulless and bare. This starkness gently unfolds into a calculated final phrase where her focus begins to meet us, allowing us to enter into her environment.

In the early stages of the work, Louis rarely identifies her audience, ‘acting in’ her body profile is composed as she isolates the shoulders, hips, head and arms away from her body. Reaching away from her inner core she perfectly expresses the concept of acting out as her centre becomes redundant. Louis opens the dance on her knees, in the far right of the stage, her actions are gestural and her upper body repetitively collapses into the softness of her thighs before her, this motif is developed as she grows and evolves into the space and into higher levels. Her torso is thematically inverted and separated from the rest of her body in a mechanical realisation of how ‘women act out by acting in’. Fragments of feeling knead the three sections of the dance together, Louis makes use of her ability to disjoint and layer contemporary movement as she forms her own landscape, mapping out the space as her own territory, she is unique.

Appearing effortless her body becomes a vehicle for expressing pain/passion/power in her verbalization of the dance matter. She embodies grace layered with pulse and a solid adherence to the constraints of gravity, as she rarely elevates. There are occasionally still moments, which become a salient feature of the dance, and as her eyes eventually stare out towards us they ache with relief grasping our attention in an abandoned moment.

Climbing with Bare Feet, Choreography and Video: Adesola Akinleye

Using ‘light’ as a choreographic tool, Akinleye cleverly manipulates visibility as a means of structuring the performance and highlighting the dancers in space.

Inspired by Ralph Ellison’s novel ‘Invisible Man’ Akinleye’s production ‘Climbing with Bare Feet’ is an athletically balanced performance by Sean Graham and Daniel Baird. The set on stage consists of a long rectangular sheet of white fabric, raised to knee level and divided into a triangular shape.

The stage is darkened and as the two performers dash and dodge each other, rolling under the screen energetically thrashing through the available space, a projection appears upon the fabric. After a moment one realizes this is the product of a reflection using a mirror to bounce the projected images onto the screen. Most impressive, and as Lucy Howlett the ‘Light Dancer’ cautiously walks through the space, the dancing images travel across the stage.

Two bodies suddenly become eight, then four, then twelve…. And the dancing images on the screen become symmetrical to those in the space. They duplicate to become a live painting on display in a gallery, there is a different dance to see, and visibility becomes a selective process. The screen is periodically moved, to mark each change of space the lights turn to full beam, and Howlett begins to adjust the set, this adds a sense of practicality to the work and again, makes us feel as though we are part of an art installation. Akinleye successfully changes the space in each transition of movement dynamic, set and musical accompaniment, allowing us to feel refreshed and almost watching a new dance.

There is a large reliance on elevation and contact work in the dance, however at times this is disappointing; transitions are sometimes weak and seem deliberate rather than organic. This however does not detract from the exciting combination of sound, light and music in an exploitation of architectural stature.

Adesola Akinleye was awarded the Bonnie Bird new chorographers award in 2006.