Last night I went to the Sheffield City Hall to see “Held”. A contemporary dance production by the Australian Dance Theatre.
You are a fan of contemporary dance?
Err, I am when I am invited. Attending was Insane Hedgehog’s idea. I believe he was drawn to the production by its unusual photographic element. Sadly he couldn’t attend because he was still sick from a bout of flu.
Was it good
It was fantastic. A photographer is embedded into the production, their digital camera is slaved to large screens that show the photographs a few seconds after they are taken. This has the effect of capturing moments from the highly athletic routine, so that we see just what happened in that fleeing moment the dancer was airborne. The results are sometimes stunning, suddenly the production is about cheating gravity, and some amazing mid-air co-ordination. Much of the dance work plays to this unusual staging element, so the dancers are forever hurling themselves into the air, which must be absolutely grueling. While this kind of extreme dance is commonly used to end a set, I’ve never seen so many dancers take so many plunges and rolls though the whole performance.
What could have been better
I think the staging was brilliant, the use of the screen was very imaginative. They move througout the performance, changing the nature of the space. However, I think that there is room for refining the photographic element. Two photographers could capture the spacial nature of dance that would possibly add another dimension. I also got stuck behind a girl with a very large head, maybe the City Hall wasn’t a perfect venue.
More about Held
Posted by lucasdigital as Uncategorized at 2:18 PM GMT