Top: Northern School of Dance. pedorm workshops on 10 July. flight: Dance Advance. See Sun 3rd.
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Top Right: Antics Community Dance. the File-based group. See Tues 5th.
Top Left: Indian dancers Pushkala Gopal and Unnikrish- nan. See Mon 4th.
Bight: London's Adventures in Motion Pictures in a scene from ‘Grecian 2000’. See Wed 6th.
Both dancers. both with Scottish Ballet connections and both now in directorial coaching positions. Earlier this year. ;'\vlacl)onald took on the newly created post of Artistic Controller. in charge of training and coaching at Scottish Ballet.
()f the three companies taking part in Theatre Royal's fabulous month ofdance in July (see Dance Listings for further details). NIH? is the unknown quantity. ’l'hough touring is extensive. neither ND'I‘Z nor Netherlands Dance Theatre have visited Britain in recent years. Their style is not quite like any other in this country. based as it is more entirely on ballet than Ballet Rambert or London Contemporary Dance Theatre. It is however. thoroughly modern. relying on expression rather than classical tale-telling. Jiri Kylian. artistic director and the architect ofthe style ofboth Netherlands companies has had a firm hold on the character of the
company for the past ten years. creating many ballets. two ofwhich have been included in the Glasgow programme. Nomadcn. inspired by ritual Aboriginal dances. illustrates the close connections between companies 1 and 2. ‘Kylian was originally made Nomaden for 16 dancers in 1981. but he decided one day last year he wanted to change it and do it with six NDT2 dancers.” 'I'hat connection has become even stronger since the company moved to its new theatre in the Haig. specially built to dance specifications. Arlette brims with enthusiastic description. ‘The stage is bigger than the Metropolitan in New York and it has all the latest technical facilities. studios. saunas. swimming pool . . . ’ Luxury indeed. Here. dance is more often than not squeezed onto inadequate stages and given the last word behind theatre and opera. Not in Holland. ‘There has been a dance boom in the past
two years.‘ explains Arlette. "l'hrce new theatres have been built in. Amsterdam. Rotterdam and ours specially for dance in the Haig. As soon as we opened we were sold out every night.‘
Strange then that dance was slow to catch on in Holland. ‘lt was to do with religion. Calvinism. dance as a sin.‘ Reversing the trend elsewhere in Europe. modern dance was first to take hold in the 1920s with classical ballet establishing a place later in the 1930‘s. Now there are modern companies making highly experimental work (see Focus on Dance. Staunch) and ballet companies dancing the classics. NDT2 are a breed which takes elements ofboth ‘and puts them in a big blender‘. Unknown quantity here they maybe. but the pedigree of ND'I‘Z is ofthe first quality. It is up to audiences here to make sure that Scotland becomes a first stop for international companies like this.
The List 24 June — 7 July I988 7