GLASGOW
O THEATRE ROYAL Hope Street, 331 1234. Bar. [D] Ballet Rambert Tue
26—Sat 30 Nov. 7.45pm. £3, £5,
£7.50. Programme 1: 26, 27, 28 Nov. An Occasion lor Some Revolutionary Gestures Chor. Dan Wagoner. Music Michael Sahl. Dipping Wings World Premiere, chor. Mary Evelyn (see
feature), music Lutoslawski. Sergeant Early’s Dream Chor.
Christopher Bruce. Programme 2:
29 & 30 Nov. Light and Shade chor. ' Robert North. music Stravinsky.
Pierrot Lunalre chor. Glen Tetley, music Schoenberg. Java chor. Richard Alston. music Ink Spots.
e THIRD EYE CENTRE 350 Sauchiehall Street. 332 7521. Box Office. Tue—Sat. Bar and cafe. [D] Julyen Hamilton and Klrstie Simson Fri 22 and Sat 23 Nov 7.30pm. £3 (£2.50). It’s not often dancers like Kirstie Simson and Julyen Hamilton perform in Scotland. Improvisation. still a relatively unexplored area in dance, is the basis of their work which they have explored now for several years in Amsterdam and
New York. The making of
movement is shared with the
v audience and when a rapport
between two dancers like these develops. fast. exhilarating dance is the result.
0 TRON 38 Parnie Street. 552 4267/8. Box office Tue—Sat, noon—10pm.
Bar with food.
; Dance Week:
; Rotating Dancers and Glasgow Arts
Centre Dance Pertormance Group
Thurs 14 Nov. 8pm. £3.50 (£2..50).
The programme opens with the Glasgow Arts Group dancing a piece of their own making, directed by the
. Centre’s Dance Tutor, Cheryl
: Strong. Hey mom. . . .l’m dancln’ is
promised to be lively and fun.
. Rotating Dancers take over in the
- second halfjoined by Gregory Nash i in It Wouldn't Happen atA.B.C. they
describe the piece as a ‘High speed
improbable epic‘.
Mantis Dance Company Fri 15 and Sat 16 Nov. 8pm. £3.50 (£2.50). Breakneck Hotel and Stage 7 This
popular company headed by a man
who‘s never lost for a new idea (he‘s doing a full-length version of Faust
set to dance in the spring) is back in Scotland for their autumn tour.
Breakneck Hotel, a new piece by American choreographer Timothy Buckley. sets a merciless pace for the dancers over a period of4O mins. It‘s folksy feel is bound to set your foot tapping. Music is by Texan ‘Blue‘ Gene Tyranny. Stage 7, based on Bergese‘s experiences in the film Company of Wolves is by contrast ghostly and mysterious. the
atmosphere is set by dramatic 34 The List 15—28 November
spot-lighting and an electronic score by Jean Marc Gowans.
Centre Ocean Stream Sun 17 Nov. 8pm. £3.50 (£2.50). The Silent Circle ‘When people ask me where I get my
inspirationfromtheythinkitmustbe ; , . £1.50. Beginners technique. Tue 12.
Japan and India, but really it‘s my horse‘. says Barbara Harrow founder and director of Centre Ocean Stream.
She likes to talk to her audience before the performance just to let them know a little bit about her unique work. ‘Living sculpture” is how she describes the gorgeous costumes which are the centre of the performance. Made ofsatin to
reflect light and cotton to absorb it. 5 they appear on stage brought to life f by performers unrecognisable beneath their exoticaly painted
faces. making slow-moving visual
' patterns. Barbara asks you to let the
colour speak and conjure emotion.
, Her latest work The Silent Circle was ' inspired by the company‘s 14 weeks
ofoutdoor performance. One warm starry night she discovered from a member ofthe audience that Saturn had just risen. The planets were at work silently and imperceptibly and yet life went on beneath them. This performance is her interpretation of
this heavenly movement in colour.
Incidentally. the costumes take 9 months to make!
; Classes 1 0 Basic Space Tron 38 Parnie Street,
552 4267. Thurs 14 Nov. Ham-2.30pm. Open workshop.
Phone for details. o Ballet Rambert Dance Workshop Tue
19 Nov. 7pm. £2.50 (£1 .50). Led by animateur Stephen Long. Those attending the workshop are entitled to a £2 voucher towards the cost of any ticket for Ballet Rambert’s Glasgow season.
i Centre Ocean Stream Workshops Glasgow College of Art, Renfrew
Street, 332 9797. 25—27 Nov. Check venue for details. 0 Julyen Hamilton and Kirstle Simson
Third Eye Centre, 350 Sauchiehall
Street, 332 7521. Sat 23 Nov. 2pm. Contemporary intermediate workshop.
Mantis Tron, 38 Parnie Street, 552
4267. Sat 16 Nov, noon—3pm. Open
company class and choreographic workshop. Check venue for details. Rotating Dancers November classes
: taught by Liz Ingram. Jane Simpson and Gregory Nash at 4 Acres
Charitable Trust, Dowanhill Church Centre, 93 Hyndland Street. The dance scene in Glasgow is really
taking off. Liz and Jane
(founder members of Rotating Dancers) are both committed to spreading the word that dance is fun and can be enjoyed and experienced
DANCE. LIST.
practically by almost everyone. Coming from a professional background (Scottish Ballet and Steps Out) they also want to raise the standards of technique within community dance. As if this was not enough to keep them busy. they are always at work on their own choreography and are interested in hearing from musicians, artists. writers, designers, in fact anyone who would like to collaborate with dancers on a professional level. Classes are ideal for both professionals and complete beginners. so stretch your legs and go along.
Open Company class (inter. level) Mon—Fri until 29 Nov. 930—] lam.
26 Nov 7—9pm. £1.50. Beginners technique. Thurs 14,28 Nov 7-9pm. £1.50. General class (all welcome) Sat 16.23.30 Nov. 10.30am—noon.
; £1 .50) For further details of classes
l
and the work of Rotating Dancers phone Liz Ingram 357 1450.
EDINBURGH Classes
0 Axis Dance Company Wilkie House. Guthrie Street. 225 2097. Mon—Thurs every week £2.50 (£2). Open contemporary class inter/advanced. For details phone venue between 2 and 6pm.
New Dance Initiative Classes Epworth Halls, Nicholson Street, 228 1091. Classes day and evening throughout the week. Ballet. contemporary and children‘s classes. Beginners particularly welcome.
0 New Dance Initiative Classes Wilkie House. Guthrie Street, 225 2079 (between 2 and 6pm). Saturday contemporary class beg/inter. 10.30am—noon. £2.50 (£2) and jazz beg/inter. Noon—1 . 15pm. £2. All welcome.
NORTH, NORTH-WEST
‘Glasgow’s my lavourite city,’ says Robert North, artistic director oi Ballet Rambert. ‘No really, it is. The audiences are always so lively and there’s such an open atmosphere about the city. People in Scotland are alive. It's not the provinces at all.’
Perhaps that’s why the city is honoured to host the world premiere ol Dipping Wings, a new piece by a young company member Mary Evelyn (see Ieature section). It appears in the lirst programme (26—28 Nov) with two other ballets new to Glasgow, An Occasion ior Some Revolutionary Gestures choreographed by Dan Wagoner and Sargeant Early’s Dream by one at Rambert's triumvirate ol choreographers, Christopher Bruce. Both the latter ballets have a North American llavour. Revolutionary Gestures unmistakably so, set to piano variations on Yankee Doodle Dandy by Michael Sahl. ‘Wagoner is an American—so am I!’ says North. ‘This is the lirst time we have used his choreography. It has a wonderlul sense oi humour and invention at movement. Revolutionary Gestures is a pun — nothing to do with Che Gevara or anything like that. It’s all about new gestures, new movements. Sargeant Early’s Dream is lull ol humourtoo, but sad. It's set to Irish, English and American lolk music.’
Scores based on purely lolk music seem to be in vogue. Mantis Dance Company (See Tron) will just have packed away their swirling skirts tor Tim Buckley’s piece Breakneck Hotel when Ballet Rambert arrive with their ballet to lolk. North describes this trend
, simply. ‘It’s just so good to dance to.
People are wanting to dance again. Dance has told stories and has gone through a period when people carried rocks on and oil stage. But over the last live years or so, people have really been dancing.’ This must be to the enjoyment oi audiences too. Everyone is iamillar with and can easily relate to one kind ol lolk music or another. North, however, believes that there should always be something in a
programme which really stretches the
l
imagination and senses. Something that at lirst seems ‘a little salton eat’.
An acquired taste. He's not alraid oI challenging an audience with a dililcuit piece. ‘l couldn’t justily a totally popular programme,’ he says. On this occasion the salt is provided in his own work, Light and Shade, with music by Stravinsky, a score he describes as lyrical, but quite diiticult to get to
1 know. But ‘popular' has the lastdance
as Rambert bring their visit to a close with Java by company choreographer Richard Alston, a witty, glamorous piece set to music by the Ink Spots. This combination seems to have made quite an impression on audiences where Rambert have just been touring. “They were yelling and
screaming,’ says North.‘There’s not
much dance culture there and they couldn’t believe that an English company could have such passion and humour. England has a very rich dance culture right now. We had rave reviews.’
Talking oI Italians brought him back to Glasgow. ‘We're all looking torward to it. Glasgow’s so much more aware
a than Home or Paris. These cities are
; just lull oi snobs. We went out to the 5 discos in Rome and they were so j square. The men never undid theirties
and it was a real “ handbags In the middle oi the Iloor" scene.’
Watch out ior lancy lootwork on the lloors oI Glasgow’s nightspots during Ballet Rambert’s vlsltl (Alice Baln).