Memorizing and hauntingly beautiful, it offers a peculiar experience that can only be felt live.
Sublime, mesmerizing, and hauntingly beautiful, Memory Keepers is a work that is meant to be felt rather than translated into words.
Memory Keepers is a brand-new piece, created in collaboration between Alleyne Dance and the National Youth Dance Company which brings together some of England’s most talented young dancers to create and tour a new piece every year. Choreographed by sisters Kristina and Sadé Alleyne this year, the work explores how memories shape ourselves and examines the ways they are inherited, carried, transformed, and passed between humans. Rather than telling a linear story, Memory Keepers unfolds through a series of images and vignettes that showcase each performers’ unique skillsets and physical storytelling, while also reflecting on memory through a kaleidoscope of scenes of remembrance, legacy, and belonging.
The sound of breathing, a single piece of clothing on an empty stage, Memory Keepers opens with an image that already speaks for itself. As the first performer puts on the garment, memory begins to materialise, haunting the body of the performer, the stage and the audience. Memory is presented as both intangible yet pervasive, distant yet intimate, full of weight yet also full of light at the same time. Vignettes are carefully constructed only to dissolve moments later, flowing seamlessly from one to another as though memories themselves are being transferred between bodies. The choreography by Kristina and Sadé Alleyne is breathtaking, simultaneously epic in scale and deeply poetic in its quality. It communicates complex emotional and psychological states, allowing memory to emerge as something that lingers in dreams, perception, and the body itself, yet without making the storytelling inaccessible to the audience.
The performances were extraordinary. While the production is undoubtedly a showcase of the remarkable technical ability of the young performers, what truly stood out is the commitment each dancer brings to the stage. Each performer dances with an enthralling physical and emotional conviction, giving the work a rare sincerity and vitality, a level of wholehearted dedication that is not that commonly seen on professional stages. The performance is also aided by simple yet effective lighting design by Salvatore Scollo and evocative music by composer Giuliano Modarelli, which seamlessly weave each small piece of storytelling, integrating occasional spoken word and live instrument into movement, crafting an epic exploration of memory.
Memory Keepers has just finished its second to last stop at London’s Sadler Wells East, and will be finishing its tour at Belgrade Theatre, Coventry on July 23rd.