Danish Dance theatre-09/02/11>> Lowry

on Wednesday the 9th of February, i took the short yet treacherous journey to the lowry to attend Time Rushton's,Danish Dance Theatre first UK performance,having purchased my cheap,awful seats in advance we entered the pink and slightly odd theatre.Having seriously hyped it up in my head from watching you tube clips..i was expecting an epic show. I did thoroughly enjoy aspects of the show,in particular the set design in the final act,the perfect technique of the dancers and the surreal and intricate choreography.However, i did find it quite/very intense in its incredibly dark and brooding musical score,colours and themes, with the movement also becoming quite repetitive and abstract,at some points it erupted in awkward explosions of twitching. I suppose what i am trying to say in a subtle way is that the work was slightly self involved,despite overt displays of deep rooted human emotions. The use of live percussion and voice captured the audiences interest,however the drums seems to take away form the piece rather then enhance it,as there volume overpowered the quite muted communication of the theme.
I was an abundance of excitement when i entered the theatre,mainly bacause i was given the beautiful gift of a FREE programme, which (if you are unaware of the politics of dance performance) is very rare and something worth getting excited about.The work was sometimes quite clear in its thematic intent, however it could also be highly ambiguous and each section seemed to use very similar isolations and floor patterns,which is not necessarily a bad thing,it simply just IS,it is up to the viewers' own likes and dislikes to inform their opinion on this 'MARMITE' movement of repeated twists and arm motifs.
Tim Rushtons' choreography was beautifully performed by the 9 extremely technically equipped,delicate but yet strong and sexual dancers. I have never seen dancers execute a choreography so effortlessly,especially one so intricate,where every limb down the finger tips is used as a way to communicate. At points it could feel as thought the dancers became to individual,too individually stylistic,however if any thing this added to the piece instead of detracting from it.
The work was split onto 3 parts,which refers back to my feeling of sameness and hegemony between 3 seemingly quite different themes. The first piece,'Enigma,' was 'beautiful and sensual duets,as the dancers strive to understand each other as enigma means riddle or puzzle.' The second work,'CaDance,' used the live percussion and themes of masculine competition,whilst the third and final piece,also my favourite,'kridt' which translates as 'Chalk,' shows ' a man on the verge of death remembering his life,loves and losses,' a work that uses all the dancers and a more lineal and clear thematic structure. The set design includes a large chalk board that spanned the width of the stage and was used as an integral part of the choreography,as if to represent human trace as the 'dying man' character was drawn around as he slid across the stage. The finale shows the man standing centre stage as a cascade of sand filled light flows down over him,as though enveloping him,seemingly representing death or epiphany. The final section seemed slightly removed from the other two pieces as it was SO eye catching, SO dynamic and emotional that the audience gasped in awe at its' beauty. It always seems to me the choreographers leave the best piece till last.