Resolution – The Place’s annual festival for new dance – in its 27th year, bringing you incredible dance from emerging artists throughout January and February.
On 26 Jan Resolution presented a triple bill combining abstract relationships with visceral human interaction, reviewed by Nick Kyprianou:
aKa Dance Theatre Company
aKa Dance Theatre Company perform a quirky duet that builds tension, interspersed with subtle humour. Next Door weaves together organic moments with provocative physicalities that are athletic and acrobatic. Set in a living room the couple slide and slither off and around a sofa, encroaching in each other’s intimate spaces. Their heads dive towards each other but they surprisingly never kiss. Stumbling into tumbles with control and care for each other their movement takes a turn, becoming increasingly rigid as if they are about to come to blows. An LED lamp being switched on indicates a shift from daytime to night, time ticking by as we peer into their living room of uncertain feelings. Do they love each other? Are they growing apart?
Oh and one more thing…
Sarah Poekert and Lisa Colette Bysheim present an underground world, highlighted with pools of light that seem to stream in from streets above. Eirik Lie Hergre’s lighting design in Oh and one more thing… is stunning, building a landscape for the dancers that the duo have to decide whether to work within or against. Slicing in and out of the smoky windows of light that come and go the pair repeat fragmented motifs. The rhythms become monotonous and there is certainly a slow build that never quite peaks, as they continuously tread onwards.
Building the route Between Me and You
Building the route Between Me and You is a ritualistic quartet of crossing paths and boundaries, decorated with square tiles that come away and form different roads and shapes for the four to explore. Paolo Rosini has choreographed a strong and mesmerising structure with BAMBULAproject that forms a coherent story about these four individuals. They unite as they flip over the tiles and piece together an all encompassing circle, enclosing themselves within this tight space. The piece comments on the fluidity and endless possibilities of our ever-changing urban societies.
Visit theplace.org.uk/resolution to see what else is on in Resolution 2016, running until Friday 19 February.
Review by Nick Kyprianou at The Place, 26 Jan 2016