Rambert Dance Company (Autumn Tour)
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Wed 1st - Sat 4th December 2004 (7.30pm)
Tickets:£6 - £22
Box Office: 01752 267222
Cramming four very different short works into one nights performance, the company opened with the geometric patterns of "Swamp" by Michael Clark.
Rigid lines of dancers cover the stage before dancing angular duets that show Clarks classical training infused with his punky edginess.
Skin-tight lycra sheathing their bodies, every tension of torso is clearly visible as the couples extend and intertwine.  | | Five Brahms... |
In complete contrast, this was followed by the fluidity of "Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan".
Accompanied by a gentle piano, soloist Lucila Alves leaped and fluttered as the iconic Isadora running wild and free, waving chiffon and scattering rose petals along the way. Fashion Victims Celebrating the centenary of his birth, Rambert paid homage to their founding choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton with a reworking of his "A Tragedy of Fashion." His first for Rambert in 1926.
Ian Spink has imaginatively reinvented this piece and produced a work of witty and dramatic dance theatre.  | | A Tragedy of Fashion |
Involving almost the entire company, "Tragedy" is a mass of movement and colour with the dancers acting as characters who tell a story rather than performing their usual abstract roles. Costumes dominate and sometimes even restrict the movement.
Although Asthenia was inspired by his contemporaries like Beaton, Massine and Nijinsky, Spink might have to admit that Mathew Bourne and David Bintley are current masters of this type of colourful dance/drama. Personally I loved the cheeky humour as well as the varied choreography of this work and would love to see it again very soon.  | | Elsa Canasta |
Finally the night ended with Javier de Frutos' "Elsa Canasta," which was included on the programme last time the company performed in Plymouth.
I still enjoyed the edgy energy if this work, set to the music of Cole Porter.
I loved the sexual tension as the pace accelerates from a slow opening and rises to a frantic height as the girls trustingly leap into the arms of their passing partners. Plymouth is the last date for Rambert on this tour but if they were tired it didn't show.
The whole night was packed with dynamic and entertaining dance. I don't think I've ever left a Rambert performance feeling short changed...certainly not tonight.
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Fantastic - they have great moves but some of the music disappointed me - Katherine from Plymouth 
