Showing @ Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until 18 Feb
An evening of bold, risk-taking contemporary dance from the Rambert Dance Company, with a live orchestra underpinning the performance, in three distinct but always stylish parts.
Awakenings, based on the book by Dr Oliver Sacks, tells the story of patients suffering from the now almost unknown disease, encephalitis lethargica or also known as sleeping sickness, of which millions suffered. Patients could remain frozen like living statues for decades, with jerky movements their only respite. After an awkward start where the dancers spasm into life, Awakenings, only really comes alive when two or more dancers are on set together but choreographer Aletta Collins has delivered these traumas in dance and movement with a style all her own. This is a haunting and difficult dance piece which intrigues as well as confounds and comes in separate sections:
Monolith – Deserved its ovation for its world premier performance. With a set that would have looked at home in Stanley Kubrick 2001: A Space Odyssey, the symmetry between dancers and music was visually stunning. Pēteris Vasks’ music and design by Charlotte Østergaard along with the eleven dancers kept the simple narrative between man and nature at the forefront of the experience whilst never stepping away from the grand stage picture.
Cardoon Club – Housed in a set that looked like a discotheque from the 70s and what can only be described as metallic finger-bobs on each of the dancers fingers is as mesmerising as it is hip-swinging. A humorous piece that promises much but unfortunately delivers less than it should. Benjamin Pope’s music keeps the attention far more than the dancing which is a pity.
Overall a pleasant evening’s entertainment but one that promised the spectacular but delivered only the enjoyable.