BRB ‘Barocco’ reviews all ‘Barocco’ reviews BRB ‘Powder’ reviews BRB ‘Upper Room’ reviews all ‘Upper Room’ reviews Last year of BRB reviews

Well what an evening at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham last night. According to the program, this was the first performance at 'home' in nearly a year and the dancers looked pleased to be back. The house was full, the audience eager and the dancers delivered the goods.

The evening started with 'Concerto Barocco', a premiere of sorts since it was the Company's first performance as BRB, in a staging by Zippora Karz who was on hand to take a bow. The company looked good and again gets my full marks for synchronized dancing. BRB are always so together in the group works, full marks to the rehearsal staff. However, the work looked so different than when performed by American dancers! I think it's a reflection of the dance training in that the Americans are always a fraction of a second ahead of the music so that the dancing has a definite edge. The BRB dancers were right on the music, so quite a different feel. Nao Sakuma as a soloist was very good and seemed more comfortable with the Balanchine style than Leticia Muller. The latter put a lot of emotion into the pas de deux with partner Stollwitzer which I think was unnecessary. Balanchine was known to say that there was enough story in a man and woman dancing together, that no emotional input was needed. Although she is quite a strong dancer, I don't think the Balanchine style sits well with her and to nit-pick, her arms were always held too high and her thumbs stick out too much from her hands, it spoils the line (in 'Powder' which followed as well)

After a lengthy interval, the curtain rose on 'Powder', an equally new piece in the repertoire from Australian Stanton Welch, who describes it as 'loosely based on the idea that the muses that inspired Mozart to write his clarinet concerto are given life each time the music is played'. I thought it was an interesting piece and the choreography was inventive, but at times seemed too forced. The entire cast danced with incredible conviction, special marks to Dorcas Walters, Monica Zamora and Joseph Cipolla. The sets were better designed than the costumes, with different perspectives of columns and corridors hanging about. The costumes for the women were most unflattering, the bodices being reminiscent of 50's style women extra-support bras and the skirts looking like half-finished tulle skirts. The colours didn't help as they looked quite grimy. The men were treated to what looked like M&S jockey shorts in flesh tones or light grey/blue: on the plus side, we were treated to rippling muscles which was quite a treat really. The powder in question, which I assume to be a reference to the fashions of Mozart's day, appeared at the end as Leticia Muller throws some up in the air on the last chord of music.

The real treat of the evening however was 'In the Upper Room', which was produced in 'accordance with Tharp Standard services'! What a great addition to the BRB repertoire! What a wealth of invention in the choreography! I felt that if the Glass score had been double in length, Tharp would have had no problems filling it since one felt there was still so much to explore in terms of the various cast interactions, step patterns, and so on (I always get the same feeling from Mark Morris choreography). What a contrast with the previous piece in that the movement just flowed smoothly. The entire cast were excellent and adapted very well to the athletic style of the vocabulary used, except perhaps for Monica Zamora who kept falling back into Swan Queen mode for each entrance and exit. The men were excellent and the grouping of James Grundy, Robert Parker and Toby Norman-Wright provided much excitement. The final section, number 9, had the full cast on stage going at such a pace that one wondered how long it could be sustained. Again, the dancers danced with total conviction and to the fullest: the audience felt it because there was no pause between the last note of the music and the explosion of well-deserved applause.