A Small Mind At The Theatre

As a dynamic and enthusiastic theatre-goer, I often find myself attending the theatre seeing things that I enjoy, but also, that technically I know very little about. Dance, and in the case of the Richard Alston Dance Company , more specifically contemporary dance, is one of them. So, when these reviewing opportunities come about, I tend to fall back to type and say more whether things looked good, and I enjoyed it. The Richard Alston Dance Company: Final Edition looked good and I enjoyed it. However, I'll never get away with that as a review, and Sir Richard Alston and his magnificent dance company deserve more in any case. Formed in 1994, this group has been thrilling audiences every single year with new work and for this final tour, the thrills are no less. On its stop at Northampton, the pieces performed went from the gently simmering Brahms Hungarian to the bold heartwarming Mazur , onto pace and drama in A Far Cry , and ending with a stunning collection of pieces in ...

Despite having watched Strictly Come Dancing since Len Goodman almost had hair, dance is a generally rarely tapped area for me at the theatre. I have seen a very select few and been impressed by some University contemporary work, been amused by our own home grown Strictly and been generally bored by some ballet. However at the high recommendation of the blogging supremo The Real Chrisparkle, I found myself in the Derngate auditorium watching the Richard Alston Dance Company. My actual evening had started an hour before the main show was to begin, as I sat in on a very interesting pre-show talk from Richard Alston himself. He guided us through the four pieces that were to be performed on the evening and I have to say that the background stories did help a great deal in appreciating the stories the dances were telling. Our four pieces performed in order were Rejoice in the Lamb, Isthmus Remix, Tangent and An Italian in Madrid . Each of the pieces were choregraphed by Richard Alston...