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![]() Helix Dance Nordic Allure MS&CL: Helix: Nordic: February 2006 London, The Place by Graham Watts |
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Helix Dance got a second chance at this year’s Resolution. Having appeared on the second night, way back on 6th January, they were called back to reprise ‘For Better, For Worse…’ as a substitute for the planned piece by Steven Whinnery. Two life-size, plywood cut-outs of the couple occupied the stage throughout the 25-minute routine, providing a safe haven for the dancers in their ‘for worse’ times. This was a captivating performance by an endearing pair, Isobel Cohen (also the choreographer) and John Thompson, that pulled together physical theatre, humour and some deliciously sensual dancing: the closing dance sequence mimicked the structure of a classical grand pas de deux with its opening duet, solo variations and a final coda. This was a couple that the audience cared about, wanting them to overcome a long list of “unresolved relationship issues” and the tender, happy ending made this a romantically appropriate late addition to our Valentine’s night programme. The evening had begun with a peculiar visual experiment that sat uncomfortably somewhere between still life and movement (like a gradually unfurling tapestry). Five dancers, dimly lit, moved in slow motion back and forth, dressed in an eclectic mixture of random garments: they looked like the characters from David Almond’s ‘Heaven Eyes’, eking out an existence on the Black Middens, scavenging anything that the sea throws their way. A Wizard’s cap, gas masks and Mickey Mouse ears swapped heads as the peformers stepped in and out of a fabric screen held up by their colleagues; dancers twirled around, bodies distorted as if being sucked down by some malevolent vortex; there were interesting colours and patterns and the work managed to be restful, whilst somehow masking an undercurrent of potential nastiness; and it all came to a bizarre end as an orange, plastic crate was ceremoniously unveiled to reveal dozens of tiny, golden balloons. Heaven only knows what it was all about! The final piece was equally pretentious but in an altogether different way and concerned nothing more than the relationship between three fashion victims and their clothes: beginning with a collective obeisance in silent prayer to the wardrobe, before turning into manic, free-for-all multiple dressing and undressing. The soundtrack of Asian and Greek music was, by far, the best thing about this otherwise dreary work.
After 105 new works on 35 programmes, showcasing the widest possible range of physical theatre and dance, the seventeenth Resolution! Dance festival comes to an end on 18 February. Every evening is a lucky dip: mine have been variously interesting, exciting, boring and annoying, introducing choreographers and companies that I can’t wait to revisit and others that I want never to see again. Above all, this Resolution has once again proved the immense diversity of the art of dance and it remains one of the best reasons to be in London in these opening grey weeks of a new year.
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