DANCE | Previews
CONTEMPORARY DANCE JACK WEBB & ROSALIND MASSON: QUARTET Tramway, Glasgow, Fri 15 & Sat 16 Nov STREETDANCE DIVERSITY: LIMITLESS The Hydro, Glasgow, Tue 10 Dec
Dancing in a solo is, by definition, a solitary affair. But despite being comprised of four solos, contemporary show Quartet is full of relationships. Performers Rosalind Masson and Jack Webb, both emerging choreographers on the Scottish dance scene, first met during the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe. Playing at the same venue was Daniel Squire, a former dancer with Merce Cunningham and Michael Clark, who agreed to mentor the project. ‘It was Daniel’s idea for Rosalind and I to work together,’ says Webb. ‘T he idea of working with another dancer and choreographer who is so different appealed to us both as an interesting creative challenge that could stretch us.’
For Quartet, Masson and Webb have each created a solo for themselves, and for each other: a process that proved illuminating. ‘As a choreographer, what you get is a direct reflection of your own aesthetic and interests in another person’s body,’ says Masson. ‘That was the challenge: how can that other body tell us things about ourselves that we may not even be aware of?’
Helping shape Quartet are sound artist and composer Jan Hendrickse and James T McKay of psychedelic band The Cosmic Dead. Between them, all five artists took each other into the unknown. ‘Quartet is what happens when we don’t stick to what we know, but what we don’t know,’ says Masson. ‘It’s the dark side or the place you don’t want to go. It poses the question of what we perceive as being of greater or lesser importance, and why.’ (Kelly Apter)
If a week is a long time in politics, four years is an eternity in reality TV. Winning Britain’s Got Talent is no guarantee that anybody will remember your name six months later, let alone buy a ticket to your show. Yet, four years on, streetdance group Diversity is still a household name, so what’s the secret of their relative longevity? ‘Hard work has a lot to do with it,’ says Jordan Banjo, one of the group’s eight dancers. ‘But the other big thing is we love what we do; we stand true to that and people respect us for it. We’ve never been the kind of people who try and get photographed by the paparazzi, or be the centre of attention. For us, it’s all about dancing and entertaining people.’ On the road with their third tour, Limitless, the Diversity guys are having more than a little fun pretending to be superheroes (‘long story short, we have to save the world’) following on from Digitized, where they were stuck inside a computer game. Coming up with new ways to present what they do, and sustain it over a full-length show, isn’t easy. According to Jordan, his big brother and Diversity founder, Ashley, is the mastermind behind the antics. ‘Ashley has a giant notepad full of what looks like American football tactics,’
he says. ‘Nobody can figure it out apart from him. So when we’re in the studio, Ashley will whip out the notepad and say “right, we’re going to try this”. Next thing you know, you’ve got somebody flipping over someone else, or getting thrown through the air. He’s just a little bit of a crazy genius.’ (Kelly Apter)
NARRATIVE BALLET HANSEL & GRETEL Theatre Royal, Glasgow, Tue 10–Sat 28 Dec
As the lines between ballet and contemporary dance start to blur, opportunities for dancers to get their teeth into a character become increasingly scarce. But if there’s one place guaranteed to provide the full dress- up and pretend experience, it’s the Christmas ballet.
‘I always think that as a dancer it’s so much more
fun to play someone else other than you,’ says Scottish Ballet’s Daniel Davidson. ‘So I’m really into the character-based work, and like approaching it differently each time.’ For Christopher Hampson’s new ballet, Hansel &
Gretel, Davidson will take on the role of the Sandman – a witch’s accomplice who helps lure the children to the gingerbread house. Inspired by the original Grimm fairytale, and creative
workshops held with members of the public through the ‘Hansel & Gretel and You’ project, Hampson’s production gives a new twist to an old story.
Set in the 1950s, all the fairytale characters start the show as real people. A group of young guys in leather jackets (think T-Birds from Grease) in Act 1 become a flock of scary ravens in Act 2 while Davidson’s Sandman transforms from a Mod into a spooky character whose costume is inspired by Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow. It’s a role he’s clearly looking forward to. ‘This is the first time I’ve played a baddy,’ says
Davidson, ‘so that’s going to be fun. I always go for it in rehearsals, but then when I’m on stage with the set and costumes, and your face is all made-up, I really go for it. So I might even have to bring it back in a bit.’ (Kelly Apter)
98 THE LIST 14 Nov–12 Dec 2013
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