Tag dance

REVIEW: An Evening Without Kate Bush

Reading Time: 2 minutesA single, tiny red light floats at the front of the Oxford Playhouse stage in silence. Slowly but surely, movements begin and the music swells; the gloriously Bush-like voice of Sarah-Louise Young fills the room. I’ve never seen Kate Bush live but I can imagine this number was pretty close. Through a gauze, Young twisted and turned and guided the small light to illuminate her body. Finally, in a huge feathered headdress and leotard (obviously a ‘Fish Person’ uniform), Young revealed herself and as the song came to a close, addressed us, creepily, “She’s not here”. The laughter was almost uninterrupted from that point onwards.

In Conversation With Romain Borgeaud

Reading Time: 3 minutesWe sat down with Romain Borgeaud from RB Dance Company. Fresh from a sold-out European tour, France’s Got Talent finalists, the company presents the UK premiere of its critically acclaimed, award-winning production Stories- The Tap Dance Sensation at Sadler’s Wells’ Peacock Theatre from Wednesday 23 October - Saturday 2 November 2024. 

REVIEW: Lived Fiction

[Image description] A male wheelchair dancer and a female East Asian dancer are on the floor in an embrace. The female dancer is on her back, and the wheelchair dancer is perpendicular to the other dancer, but upside down as if in a head stand. His faced away from the camera. The East Asian dancer has her arms wrapped gently around the other dancer's back as if to support his headstand. Her eyes closed, hair draped gently on the floor. The image juxtaposes serenity and tension. The still wheel of the wheelchair is suspended in mid air, being a focal point of this image. The dancers are on a light coloured floor in light golden coloured costume. There is an amber light coming from behind the dancers cutting through the haze cast against the pitch black backdrop. Photography by Chris Parkes

Reading Time: 2 minutesStopgap’s twenty years of creating inclusive dance culminates in the most accessible and brilliant work of dance-theater in recent history. 

REVIEW: Wing Chun

Reading Time: 2 minutesWing Chun at Sadler’s Wells brings on stage the story of Grandmaster Yip Man, the legendary martial artist who not only taught Bruce Lee but also popularized Wing Chun worldwide. This production, choreographed by Han Zhen and Zhou Liya and written by Feng Shuangbai, combines contemporary dance, drama, and various martial arts forms, including Wing Chun, Tai Chi, and Praying Mantis, to deliver a breathtaking spectacle. The show follows a film crew documenting Yip Man’s life, creating a bridge between the past and present while featuring two generations pursuing their dreams.

REVIEW: State Ballet of Georgia: Swan Lake

Reading Time: 3 minutesMaybe a bit reluctantly yet curiously, we'd love to sneak a peek into the exotic taste of Soviet legacy of ballet tradition. This is most prominent in ACT I, where the ensemble dances in a gentle and airy style, utterly different from what we typically see here in the UK. If you are especially used to the more powerful and vital presentation here, you may find the Georgian style too soft and light. You may even tell from their different shapes of ballet hands: their fingertips are slightly more curved, their middle fingers slightly lowered, and the overall curve more fluid.

REVIEW: Afrique en Cirque

Reading Time: 2 minutesDaring acrobatics and soulful afro jazz fusion sounds Illustrate the daily life in Guinea. For a brief 90 mins we are transported from the South Bank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth hall to the streets of Guinea to witness the bustling lives of fisherman, market workers and construction workers in an energetic circus display of strength and joy. Cirque Kalabante is a west African circus company created by Yamoussa Bangoura who choreographs and designs their shows, This show marks their first time in London, and it is not to be missed.