A major hats off to New Movement Collective for pulling this off. Sixty dancers, musicians and singers, four new music and dance works and a stunning setting, formerly part of the Royal Arsenal, with a catwalk-like stage bisecting the room. It’s loaded with ambition and class, not just the ingredients but the way the whole evening is designed.
We start with two musical works: the hushed echoes of Andrea Balency-Béarn’s Appels, then baritone Ross Ramgobin singing Yshani Perinpanayagam’s setting of John Cage’s love letters to Merce Cunningham. “My dearest Merce, I’m writing a new piece ... and the only one I can imagine listening to it is you.” The dancers are woven into the music before setting out on their own adventure, each piece follows the next without pause (or applause) building an absorbing atmosphere absolutely fitting the mood of the central feature, Les Noces.
