© Asya Verzhbinsky other Clore reviews 'Unstrung Tension' reviews Cathy Marston Diary recent RB reviews

Last night was certainly a struggle at times as less mature choreographers mixed it with the more mature against a backdrop of RB dancers under terrific pressure with all the new work going on on the main stage. Dancers always complain of course, and they will get though the current peak, but injury is a constant worry. And so the evening started with the news that 2 of the 5 pieces could not be given properly because of injury. There were however part-performances though it's hard to know how to review them.

The evening started with 3 works by younger choreographers. Fin Walker's "The Self" to a a modern percussive score is a fight or grapple between her and him or him and her and a flavour of something being developed. I found it a bit too stop-go and athletic rather then dancerly. "Larynx" by Lisa Torun was devised for a posse of RB dancers but in the end came down to Lisa herself improvising from bits of the work. The 'music' was by Lisa as well - playing around with her voice and spoken prose. I'm not sure any of these ingredients do her justice or should be pursued.

The last piece before the interval was TRI by Ben Wright for 3 men. They seemed to be having an argument and there was much running around in vaguely lumpy dark costumes. The choreography seemed rather muddy, unclear and much too long. My mind wandered and I did my tut-tut about the youth of today.

After the interval Kenneth Tharp's "Danger Men at work Play" was for 3 men again but much more focussed and upbeat - rather commercial indeed. It had the feel of West Side Story - three lads capering about on the town - when would the Jets arrive?! Buoyant and nicely executed but this was one of the pieces where dancer workload had forced some changes: would I have enjoyed the proper piece more or less?

Last up was Cathy Marton's "Unstrung Tension". Can I be trusted to write sensibly about Cathy I wonder - of course I can! By some margin this was the most grown-up and masterful piece on the night with clear and incisive movement of blistering speed at times. I love the mixture of balletic and ground based dance and the way at times she frames a solo with other dancers stretched and posed a-line. It is athletic and physical but always, always, artistic. This was well up to standard, if too short, and the dancers involved including Edward Watson and Jenny Tattersall looked good the more so in the stripped down costumes - Marston again. It's a busy time for Cathy with 3 other premiers coming up in the next 3 months.

Edward Watson in Cathy Marston's "Unstrung Tension"
Photograph by Asya Verzhbinsky

As a totality it might not have been the greatest of nights but it is 'good' to see new work and to see choreographers at various stages of development and trying new things. There is natural variability at this stage in some of their development and while we need to say when things don't really work we also need to encourage and foster creativity at this level. ADI is all about that and it's not as if the main Covent Garden stage is knock-out all the time either. So, tut-tuts aside, roll on the next ADI programmes and may there be very many more.