Rambert Dance Company – Mixed Programme
By Gavin Roebuck for The Stage

On a superb set designed by Jean-Marc Puissant, Venezuelan choreographer Javier de Frutos creates an original dance piece, Elsa Canasta, to music by Cole Porter with three songs sung by Melanie Marshall.

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amir_giles posted 06 December 2003 09:29 PM
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Last week was the first of two weeks of student choreographies at the Rambert School Theatre in Twickenham. (300 St Margerets Rd, TW1 1PT, 11th & 12th Dec, 7:30pm, £4). I'm always interested in what non-dancers appreciate in dance, and was extremely surprised when two friends of mine who are new to contemporary dance said they preferred the student show to the company's, which they saw the week before at Sadlers Wells. I put this down to the intimate nature of the school theatre, and the great variety and number of pieces in the show, compared with Rambert Company's three. I'm wondering if there are many others who would prefer a quicker pace and greater variety and number of pieces from companies like Rambert, and if you have seen perhaps other student shows and found them equally engaging as professional productions?

I feel like there is an important lesson here, given that the Rambert company boasts a collection of dancers whose stage experience and technical abilities far outwieght the school's, which by itself would normally astound the dance novice, even without world class choreography.
Any thoughts?

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From Stuart

Welcome to CriticalDance amir and thanks for such an interesting posting.

Enjoyment at a performance is down to a number of factors and technical ability is only one. Thus young performers, or at the other end of the scale, older performers, can create a fine artistic experience without 32 perfect fouettes or whatever.

I didn't see the Rambert School performance, but I remember an interesting project called "Take me to the river" with a series of dances set along the Thames and boat trips between them. The first, a community dance work for young and old was more successful than the later professional pieces that featured soem of the best dancers in the country.

When I saw them at High Wycombe, I did enjoy the choreography and the performances of the pieces shown at Sadler's. Nevertheless the reaction of your friends is a perfectly reasonable one and the intimacy of a small venue can create a terrific atmosphere.

<small>[ 13 December 2003, 04:51 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I've been a Rambert fan since a child, even a Friend.I've booked all peformances but after recent triple bill will I even cross the road to see them?Living Toys is fabulous with stunning balances and amazing partnering especially the oriental woman and tall guy.Costumes added to this fantasy landscape without the encroachment of storyline.All the dancers are fabulous and it was a shame to see them wasted in 21-so crass, boring, lowest denominator, pop, play to the non-dance audience with Kylie M. slithering around on a giant screen.Suspender belts?Guess it was about sex.But ELSA CANASTA -really? who wants to see a ballet about oral sex and homo eroticism.Matthew Bourne's Car Man had so much integrity (and it was billed for adult audience-we took a kids 10th birthday party to this RDC Triple Bill was massively inapropriate)E.C. was sad-the best thing on stage was the singer.All these beautiful dancers just throwing themselves around,a circus act.What a waste.And that beautiful, exquisite young dancer who danced the male/male duet-did he want to dance gay sex acts on stage? Does a young dancer have the ability to make such decisions faced with the overpowering awe of the company? Is this sexual exploitation? The dancers look thin and emaciated. I havn't seen such skinny dancers in 10 years and the days of junky chic. Are you having them tested for bone density as today's dancers should be healthy. So what have I seen? The absence of Christopher Bruce - and I mourn and grieve the loss of a great director with soul.The GCSE dance group remember only the crotch grabbing.What a waste.

Dear Shadowcatcher

I have seen Elsa Canasta twice and loved it both times. I’ve also seen Car Man and didn’t particularly like it. So all a matter of individual taste and thank goodness for that.

Well not quite. I would take issue with you on two points. What saddens me about your post is that you reduce Elsa Canasta to 'oral sex and homo eroticism.' I actually think it was a rather more complex and detailed piece than this.

What angers me about your post is the very thinly veiled homophobia, dressed up as concern for the young dancer who, you seem to suggest, may have been forced to take on this role. So are you saying it’s OK for dance to represent ‘heterosexual’ encounters, but not ‘homosexual’ ones?

Oh delicious irony! (One of the messages I took from Elsa Canasta.) May I suggest you read a biography of Cole Porter?

Kylie Minogue: Pop Idol
She has long been Britain's favourite disco diva - and now she's cracked America too. But how is Kylie Minogue coping with life as a global superstar? Uncredited from The Independent

Once upon a time, on 26 May 2003 to be exact, Kylie Minogue got an idea of how other people see her. The Spanish choreographer Rafael Bonachela, who worked on the pop princess's KylieFever2002 tour, had created a piece called 21 for Rambert Dance Company. It featured Kylie as a huge projection, looming over the dancers and the stage.

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