Foxy ladies

Rambert Dance Company
Divine Influence/Verge/Lady into Fox/Stand and Stare
Sadlers Wells, Tuesday 14 November 2006

Populating a meaty and variously joyful, brooding and contemplative bill, Rambert’s dancers appeared fresh and strong on opening night. New dancers are coming through and the more established personalities, such as the fabulous Angela Towler, are realigning themselves following the departure of Amy Hollingsworth earlier this year. Perhaps they are buoyed up by the company’s internal changes, with the appointment of a Dancers’ Management Team (Mikaela Polley, Andrew Hurst and Simon Cooper) to share the responsibilities previously undertaken by the Artistic Coordinator. Company dynamics are certainly changing.

The programme featured two new works by company members both created for Workshop seasons. Opening with Martin Joyce’s 2005 duet Divine Influence, inspired by colleague Angela Towler, the night got off to a pure, playful start. The dancers looked divine encased in long white fluid skirts and little else. Beginning with a sinuous serious classicism they soon started to take liberties with the restrictions of formal technique accompanied by the solidly classical Moonlight Sonata. The pair looked energised and displayed just enough subtle cheek to pull off showing us their pants and manipulating their elastic skirts to pull against and away from each other. It was a light and happy breath of fresh air.

Cameron McMillan’s Verge premiered this year at The Place and in that intimate space had an immediacy and urgency that was somewhat diluted by the transition to the Sadler’s Wells stage. Nonetheless, this is still a classy, sexy and brooding number that explores a fretful atmosphere and relishes its own stylisation. Set to a frantic and rhythmic electro-acoustic score conjured up from sounds made entirely by the dancers; sharp breaths, squeaking feet on floor, footfalls etc. the effect is, at times, oppressive. However, this suits the mood as the female dancers, resplendent in Roland Mouret’s black evening dresses, twitch and writhe, straddle and mount their chairs. Angela Towler is the centre of this piece, right at home in a wonky shoulderstand with her legs splitting effortlessly into impossible angles, but all the female dancers impress here. There are men too, in pants and just one sock each – on the verge of getting dressed, perhaps? The style more than nods to Wayne McGregor and Rafael Bonachela, yet Verge works as a distinctive and involving piece and frankly, looks just great.

I was worried about Lady into Fox. Whilst the desire to revive and re-imagine a piece from the archives is understandable and admirable, I remember how bored I’d been by Judgement of Paris so didn’t have high hopes. Happily, this fared better. Lady into Fox transported you to another era, another style of dance. It also told a story, which is rare in Rambert repertoire these days. There was an air of The Red Shoes about it; eccentric, with magical intent, but overall it didn’t feel like a complete or totally comprehensible work. Its premiere was a little ragged. The story’s conclusion is unclear and many punters came out into the interval somewhat bemused. Pieter Symonds lead performance, however, was triumphant. Her portrayal of the inexplicable transformation is literal in costume but gradual in interpretation. She morphs from lady of the hunt to fluffy fox to feral vixen in a flurry of nifty pointe work and foxy looks. Shame she didn’t get to savage a bunny. Now that would have been a climax.

Finally, Stand and Stare, Dharshan Singh Buller’s new work inspired by Salford artist LS Lowry which makes most of us think immediately of “Matchstick Men”. The piece certainly takes its cue from this stark, industrial vision. Debate may rage over whether this is does what it says on the tin but I found myself completely mesmerised by its hallmark swaying and tumbling procession. The twenty strong cast filled the stage in uniform black with just a hint of individual colour beneath, blankly portraying the indifference with which city folk regard each other. The piece is probably too long, although the last sections, featuring a very human and engaging duet in the foreground as the dark clad cast pass anonymously in the background and the end set against the sea with exuberant leaping from the male dancers lifted the spirits.

Overall, a full, surprising and experimental programme demonstrating the breadth of artistic ambition that’s driving Rambert forward.

Take: anybody with a soul and sense of wonder

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