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Dance UmbrellaLondon, Sadler's Wells by Suzanne McCarthy |
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The London dance world turned out in force last night to salute Dance Umbrella and its founder and artistic director, Val Bourne, on the occasion of the festival’s 25th Anniversary. Such is Bourne’s pulling power that artists of the stature of Trisha Brown, Bill T Jones and Mark Morris came especially to London for the occasion. Compered by Deborah Bull, the show was an elegant tribute and testament to how Dance Umbrella has fulfilled its original aim of reflecting and encouraging contemporary dance in Britain. This annual London event has been instrumental in moulding our tastes and expectations of contemporary dance. Because of Dance Umbrella, for the past quarter of a century London has been introduced to the choreography of such artists as Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, Mark Morris and Pina Bausch, and the audience has grown from 120 to more than 2,000. While it was not possible for all those who have been showcased over the years to be represented on stage, their presence was felt. Richard Alston, who danced on the first night of the first Dance Umbrella at the Riverside Studios, spoke of the debt owed to Bourne. She in turn praised all those who worked with her over the years, especially those behind the scenes. Together they have produced what must be a record for a contemporary dance festival - 1,246 performances by 286 companies and artists from 21 countries performing 32 separate venues. The Gala programme was a deft weave of all the different aspects of contemporary dance, with its influences and atmosphere drawn from a vast variety of dance genres – from classical ballet to breakdancing. Alston’s work, Dangerous Liaisons, opened the show, and gave Londoners an intriguing glimpse of Ashley Page’s Scottish Ballet. Trisha Brown followed performing her own piece If You Couldn’t See Me, a performance that refuted the 19th century ballet maxim that you never turn your back on the audience. Clad in a flowing yellow dress, she moved with her face enticingly turned away from the auditorium. There followed Wayne McGregor’s 2 Human, performed by ENB’s Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks. Their raunchy, bird like movements brought cries of delight from the crowd. Bill T Jones, performing his solo Ionization, mesmerised the audience with his sinewy movements. The first half then closed with Shobana Jeyasingh’s “1”, an extract from her Polar Sequence. The second half opened with a work especially recreated for the Gala Nine Person Precision Ball Passing, a title that described the work exactly, but not its gentle humour and the expertise and excellent timing of the “ball passers”. This was followed by Mark Morris dancing his solo Serenade, accompanied by Oren Fader on guitar and Stefan Scatz on percussion. It was then the turn of the Siobhan Davies Dance Company to perform two of her works; The Swan, movingly danced by Laurent Cavanna, and the comic She Bit Her Tongue, which took dance mine into a new sphere of exploration. The cheeky element continued with Zenaida Yanowsky giving the world premiere of William Tuckett’s What’s New Pussycat. She purred her way across the stage, comically giving life to Tom Jones’ version of the Burt Bacharach song. Wayne McGregor followed twisting and turning his way along a fine line of light in his solo Xenathra, which was also created specially for this Birthday Gala. The Gala closed with a special revival of Matthew Bourne’s Spitfire, An Advertisement Divertissement, originally featured in Dance Umbrella’s 1988 10th Anniversary Gala. The boys, including Adam Cooper, wearing a variety of eye catching white underwear, performed immaculately, showing off their muscles and their style.  Matthew Bourne’s Spitfire © Dance Umbrella
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