Tennessee Williams, Henry Purcell, JS Bach and Sonny Terry - not your typical night out in Blackpool line-up so it's a pity more people didn't bother to turn out for the first of a long overdue two night visit to the resort by this always interesting contemporary dance company.
Through no fault of its own Blackpool has lost its once hard earned reputation as a major showcase for cutting edge choreography. Unable to compete with massively grant-aided rivals it has to carefully cherry pick from a much smaller range of compani
es.
But new dance doesn't come much better than this well established Leeds-based company which opened its latest mixed programme with the hypnotic Blue Roses, a work choreographed by Javier De Frutos and inspired by selected spoken passages from The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
Centre stage was Dane Burst, a young South African dancer and a real star in the making who returned to solo in Jose Limon's Chaconne to the music of Bach. And he was there again with Ana Lujan Santez for her marvellously retro cervaNtes.
Limon's The Moor's Pavanne combines the inspiration for Shakespeare's Othello with Purcell's chamber music to produce a fascinating fusion of controlled synchronicity and homoeroticism.
And the short (three minutes and 26 seconds) but oh so sweet 70th anniversary revival of Harmonica Breakdown somehow brings together the blues of Sonny Terry and Oh Red with the now very appropriate Great Depression and forced migration.
Phoenix Dance Theatre performs again tonight – see it or risk losing it.
Robin Duke
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