CriticalDance Forum

'The imagery of disability - Ismene Brown reviews the Candoco Dance Company at the Swan, High Wycombe.' Candoco have not always found works to match their talents, but currently they seem to have a couple of contrasting works that will amaze audiences worldwide

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<small>[ 17 March 2003, 05:35 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

CandoCo Anything you can do It's not about issues for CandoCo, more a question of talent. By Clifford Bishop previewing their performances of their new show in London.

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<small>[ 17 March 2003, 05:41 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

<B>CandoCo - One hand clapping, two chairs dancing (not that you'd notice, mind)</B> <P>'In 10 years Celeste Dandeker has made CandoCo a trend-setter - and not just because some of the company are disabled.'<P>By Peter Stanford in The Observer<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>When Celeste Dandeker introduces herself as a dancer, people often look askance for she is also a wheelchair user. We may have made the link between disability and sport, through watching the Paralympics, but dance remains another territory. Even when confronted with the evidence, sceptics can be hard to budge. <P>At a Sadler's Wells performance by CandoCo, the modern dance company Dandeker founded 10 years ago for able-bodied and disabled performers, a member of the audience was heard to comment: 'She's so good, you could almost believe that she was in that wheelchair all the time.' <P>'If only,' Dandeker laughs. Such prejudices would make some disabled people angry, but this 49-year-old is not one of nature's hotheads. Thin and graceful, with high cheekbones, big eyes and a gamine vulnerability, she has both the look and the manner of Audrey Hepburn's younger sister. She understands, she says, where the prejudices about disability and dance come from. For almost 18 years, she shared them.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><A HREF="http://www.observer.co.uk/review/story/0,6903,489860,00.html" TARGET=_blank><B>More...</B></A>

world where disability counts for nothing

Nadine Meisner previews CandoCo's London performances

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<small>[ 17 March 2003, 05:36 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Taboo just isn't in this dancer's vocabulary

Choreographer Javier de Frutos is exploring disabled sexuality with CandoCo.

By Jenny Gilbert in The Independent

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<small>[ 17 March 2003, 05:38 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Grace and ease that fly in the face of limitation

Dancer Celeste Dandeker wouldn't allow physical paralysis to end her career. Her acclaimed dance company, CandoCo, mixes able-bodied with disabled dancers to create a stunning spectacle of movement, writes Sylvia Thompson in The Irish Times.

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<small>[ 17 March 2003, 05:39 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

CandoCo

Judith Mackrell
Friday March 7, 2003
The Guardian

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Review in The Observer.

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Candoco
By Nadine Meisner for The Independent

The dancers here also looked particularly good and all three of their pieces successfully played around with the mix of physical ability and disability that is the company's raison d'être. Jamie Watton's collaborative Phasing uses David Lock's wheelchair to vary visual levels and create interesting group sculptures. The limpid, direct dance felt light years away from Fagan's awkward intricacies and perfectly matches Steve Reich's dappled, translucid New York Counterpoint. Production values are excellent, with beautiful lighting by Lucy Carter which gives the three performers a stunning exit along a corridor of lighted squares pulsating with the music.

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