Ballet.co November 2007 Magazine

Dance Umbrella,
3 October to 10 November 2007
Season details

Thierry Bae

'Journal d'inquietude': Graham Watts

"This was one of the most compelling works I've seen in Dance Umbrella for a while, lasting more than 90 minutes without a break but never seeming to drag (in fact, I was disappointed when the film, which is full of Gallic irony and self-parody, ended)."

Amanda Miller-Pretty Ugly Tanz Koln

'Giselle - On Love and Other Difficulties': Ann Williams

"This was a puzzling show. Its message, if any, never became clear, but I found myself absorbed by it, and for me that's quite a significant plus."

Charles Linehan

'The Way Station, Happy Days' bill: Jane Simpson

"No sets, unglamorous street-clothes, the merest hint of a story, three dancers at most, and choreography based on a deliberately limited vocabulary: but if you adjust your brain and reset your expectations, there's a lot of pleasure to be found in this quiet country."

Michael Clark

'The Stravinsky Project': Bruce Marriott

"Clark is a mad professor and brilliant conjurer of movement, boldly stepping forward, and we are privileged to see his doodles. But if they were filtered and presented more coherently Clark would probably be seen as one of the greatest living choreographers."

'The Stravinsky Project': Norman Reynolds

"I have given only an outline and it is hard to say why, but one's final impression is one of great satisfaction. Only one more thing is needed, that it should tour extensively and not be allowed to fade away."

Russell Maliphant and Isaac Julien

'Cast No Shadow': Ann Williams

"If I had to flip a coin, I'd say that in this mixed media event, the film and video element comes out ahead of the dance element by a nose,- but only by a very, very small nose."

'Cast No Shadow': Jeffery Taylor

"A frustrating attempt to mix flesh and blood with ephemeral light waves, proving only it will never work."

Inbal Pinto Dance Company

'Shaker': Ann Williams

"What's unarguable is that Pinto is an able and inventive choreographer; even in this disappointing show she's done enough to make me curious about what she comes up with next."

Siobhan Davies Dance Company

'Two Quartets': Bruce Marriott

"Davies has an interesting process - if sadly it does not always result in interesting dance."

Alias Compagnie

'I want to go home': Graham Watts

"The end product was an hour's worth of largely fascinating dance theatre, albeit one which strangely failed to ignite in terms of getting anywhere near the intense psychological core of our collective insecurities."

Andreja Rauch

'Weavers': Helene Cooper

"Slavonic choreographer Andreja Rauch's recent GDA show provided an insight into human behaviour expressed as movement. ...this was a good night."

Ko Murobushi

'Quicksilver': Ann Williams

"At this point, I scribbled on my pad 'Lord, let this be over soon'..."

New Art Club

'The Visible Men': Lynette Halewood

"...the work at 70 minutes doesn't outstay its welcome, and underlying the slapstick humour is some subtle thinking about how we see � or don't see � the world."

'The Visible Men': Libby Costello

"The Visible Man felt like a departure from New Art Clubs comic micky take of the pretentious dance world, with a dry Northern wit that could make any Mancunian feel at home in London. The work was a one trick pony, with a central gimmick lacking in finesse."

Royston Maldoom

'Film - Rhythm Is It: Sacre du Printemps (Rite of Spring)': Charlotte Kasner

"Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida begins and ends in the middle of the Trojan war and centres round characters peripheral to the conflict. Not much happens in between for two, long hours. Much the same could be said of Rhythm Is It."

Splintergroup Drama Theatre

'Roadkill': Ann Williams

"Unsettling, but fascinating."

Shen Wei Dance Arts

'Connect Transfer': Bruce Marriott

"Wei's dancers, when floor-based, are the most fluid creatures you can imagine: like mercury they seem to react to each other and unseen imperfections in the floor direct their random and quite mesmerizing, stop-start, travels."