DANCE LIST
DANOE
GLASGOW
o Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. Box Office Mon—Sat 10am-6pm (7.30pm perfevgs). Bar. Buffet.
The Snow Queen 9—11 Feb. The Scottish premiere of choreographer David Bintley‘s new production of a story by Hans Andersen. In three acts.
Coppelia 12—14 Feb. The 1979 production by Peter Wright. The story of a doll coming to life is particularly loved by children.
Both programmes begin 7.15pm, Tue and Sat mat 2.15pm. £2.50—£15. The company move to His Majesty‘s Theatre. Aberdeen. 16—21 Feb. Lunch and Listen Theatre Royal, Hope Street. Wed 11 Feb. 1pm. £1.50. Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet in a special lunchtime performance organised by Friends of Scottish Opera. Phone 248 4567 for information.
o Pratap and Priya Pawar Mitchell Theatre, Granville Street, 221 3198. Box Office Mon—Sat noon—6pm. Tickets also available from Ticket Centre. Candleriggs. 552 5961. Mon—Sat 10.30am—6.30pm. Divya-Drfshti (Vision — The Artist’s Dream) Sun 1 March. 7.30pm. Internationally acclaimed. Pratap and Priva Pawar have been described as ‘India’s divine dancing couple'. They perform in the classical Kathak and Odissi forms of Indian dance and have been based in London for forty years. Glasgow has been fortunate in benefitting from their teaching expertise for the past four years.
This new dance drama is based on a traditional story. Shubhang. a devoted artist becomes fascinated with Mahasweta. a temple dancer. They become separated and many years later Shubhang, though blinded. recognises her touch. The music for twenty musicians has been composed by Parth Das in India specially for the piece. See Edinburgh for other date.
0 Cunningham Classes Maryhill Community Hall. 304 Maryhill Road.
Fiona Alderman teaches on Sundays at 12.30pm and Wednesdays at 7.30pm. All classes £2 and for people with some dance experience. Fiona also teaches at The Dance Factory, 142 Calder Street (off Victoria Road) on Tuesdays.
0 Catalyst Third Eye Centre.
EDINBURGH
0 Dance About, Try II Out Assembly Rooms. 54 George Street. 225 3614. Work out after work. Try one of these popular classes and you’ll be hooked on contemporary dance. Classes begin at 5.45pm and last 11/: hours. £1 .50 (50p). Highly recommended.
Mon 9 — Marilyn Williams; Wed 11— Gregory Nash; Mon 16— Marilyn Williams; Wed 18 — Sheridan Nicol (Jazz); Mon 23 — Pat Eckersley; Wed 25 — Sheridan Nicol (Jazz).
o Choreography Workshop Assembly Rooms. 54 George Street. For info 0750 32213. Sat 14 Feb £5 (£2.50). Run by Kedzie Penfield of Dance Connection. this workshop is designed for anyone who would like to try to put together a dance piece of their own.
0 Scottish Ballet Playhouse. 18/22 Greenside Place. 557 2590. Box Office Mon—Sat 10am—6pm. Bar. Cinderella Until Sat 7 Feb. 7.30pm and 2.30pm Sat mat. £4—£10(concs and kids halfprice on all tickets). One ticket in ten free. The glittering characters of this favourite ballet bring magic to the Playhouse.
0 Scottish Ballet Tours Scottish Ballet begins its annual small-scale touring in the Union Theatre. St Andrews on Thurs 19 Feb. As well as visiting Dumfries. Alloa. and Crieff. the company will be appearing in Portobello on Tue 3 March where they will perform highlights from Othello. Ruckert Songs and Napoli. For further information contact Scottish Ballet at 261 West Princes Street. 331 2931.
0 Gregory Nash Theatre Workshop. Hamilton Place. 226 5425. Box Office 9.30am—5.30pm Mon—Sat and before perfs. One ticket free with every ten booked. Momentum Bush Fri 13 and Sat 14 Feb. 8pm. £2.75 (£1.75). Greg Nash returns to Edinburgh with his latest
NATIONAL MOMENTUM
Gregory Nash usually takes a book to read when he’s eating out alone on tour. One evening in Stafford he forgot the book. Bored, he began to doodle on the napkin. His latest work ‘Momentum Bush’ was conceived almost entirely during that solo meal. ‘Before I knew it I’d covered about twenty serviettes. I even worked out the budget.‘
Once that budget of 5117,5000 was secured, Greg moved into action. His plan was to create a chain reaction in dance. He would use young people dancing on film as a starting and reference point to his own solo performance.
Four groups were mobilised in Glasgow, Oxford, Leeds and Liverpool. Given the same basic material these groups, under the direction of choreographers working in their area, made Nash’s choreography their own and adapted it for a location relevant to them - a disused dockyard set the stage in Clydeside, while a 20s’ athing was the chosen site for Oxford. Nash did not come into the picture again until films ofthe four performances, made by the Bradford Independent Film Group, were ready for editing. ‘I started to build the final choreography from the films’ he says. Similarly, James Beirne made the music and American artist John-Paul Phillipe designed the stage sets, his first dance project. The final link is the performance of ‘Momentum Rush’ itself. Though joined on stage by only one other live performer Nash is effectively just one part of the chain which includes 120 young dancers and a whole gang of artists.
It is no surprise therefore that
piece which used the energies of 120 young people. a crowd of artists and musicians and a film crew to produce and culminates in a live performance by Nash and Kate Dalton against a cinematic backdrop. See panel for explanation!
Gregory will also be teaching at the Assembly Rooms on Wed 11 Feb at 5.45pm in an open choreography workshop (see Dance About above) and on Thurs 12 Feb 2.30——4.30pm for dancers with some experience. Both workshops are priced £1.50 (50p) and are available from the Assembly Rooms. Contact Kate Craik on 225 3614 for further information.
LOOKING AHEAD
0 Focus on Dance Assembly Rooms. 54 George Street. Edinburgh. For information contact Sarah Hill at 031 226 5992. Assembly Theatre have organised a week of dance which will not only highlight Scotland‘s contemporary companies, but also provide a much-needed opportunity to see the work ofother British and international dancers. In the :venings dancers like the indefatigable tap dancer Will Gaines. Paulene Daniels from the Netherlands and Astrakan from France will perform their latest works. As well as lunchtime performances. there will be classes
bonding and communication were the original themes of the piece. ’I wanted it to be like a beacon dance. When a fire is fit on a hill in one part of the country another part of the country sees the fire and lights its own beacon.’ Working towards that end, the theme that emerged was one Nash describes as ‘transference’, a sort of telepathy of ideas. Certain sequences of movement are recognisable in each group. They all decided to work near water. ‘Working on this project, 120 people who didn't know each other were all working towards the same end.’ Despite good houses on the tour so far, Nash is concerned that publicity has been lacking due to the educational aspect of the project. ‘Arts in education is often considered second-rate. It seems to be OK to have untrained dancers teaching in schools but you
and workshops at all levels and in many techniques— jazz. kathak (Indian). ballet and jive are just some. Two dance companies will be in residence during the week. Their workshops which will build towards a short performance at the end of the week will be open to people of all ages and levels of experience.
0 London Contemporary Dance Theatre Theatre Royal. Hope Street. 331 1234. Two Programmes 24. 25 March and 26—28 March. The second programme brings back Troy Game. and Interrogations. seen last autumn in Edinburgh. Two of the works in the first programme will be performed in Scotland for the first time.
o Choreographic Festival Sat 21 and Sun 22 March. Organised by the Scottish Council for Dance. this is the festival’s sixth year. Held at the Aberdeen College of Education, it will include classes and talks and is open to community. amateur and professional groups and individuals. Guest teachers include Katie Duck, Frank McConnell and Ann Dickie. Tom Yang is Director of the 1987 programme.
For more details of classes, turn to Citylist in the back pages of the nagazine.
wouldn’t want them on stage.’ Working in schools and the community is important for Gregory not because he is a poor performer but because he is a talented one. The two go hand-in-hand for him, though he admits that the juxtaposition leadsto mls-representation sometimes.
“People don't expect you to do well in both. They try and pidgeon-hole you.’ Nash is still a great distance from being clipped of his enthusiasm and
ingenuity in experimentation. His move to Glasgow recently means that we shall be seeing a lot more of him. As for the next few months — he’ll be teaching and recouping resources. Who knows what the next meal may bring? (Alice Bain)
‘Momentum Rush’ Fri 13 and Sat 14 Feb. 8pm. See listings for further details and workshops.
The List 6 —- 19 February 23