5 STARS
2Faced Dance is a UK all male dance company and it’s current tour sees them perform Dreaming in Code, an 80 minute show comprising of two rather different parts – milk night and Lucid Grounds. The website describes the show as ‘explosive, visceral’ and it did not disappoint at any moment.
The evening started with a curtain raiser from Jump Start, a group of seven children who had been working with 2Faced Dance to create the performance. It was full of energy and the dancers performed well, with the use of lifts, floor work and jumps. At times the stage felt like a heartbeat and they were moving with the beat, drawing away from each other before being pulled back in by an unknown force.
milk night was a mixture of theatre and dance and saw the five performers dance both together and individually, there was a great contrast between the group lifts and the monologues on stage. The outfits which were like everyday clothes added a realness to the performance and enhanced the characters and personalities of each man. The production, choreographed by Eddie Kay for Frantic Assembly, explored a world without women and drew on the fears and anxieties of the men on stage. The beginning was eerie and a sense of the unknown and uncertainty was maintained throughout as the dancers fixated on the audience, as if in trance, accompanied by similar trance-like music.
There were intense moments of high energy movements when the men were jumping across the stage and landing on the floor or in a different lift or position from when they started. The result was flawless and it looked effortless to them, as if soaring through the air was incredibly natural. The intertwining hands and arms as the performers twisted in and out of each other was brilliant to watch and the accompanying music by Alex Baranowski and Nottingham graduate Angus MacRae fitted perfectly. The performance gave a message of brotherhood between men and companionship as they worked together and helped each other when anxious.
The second piece was choreographed by award-winning Tamsin Fitzgerald, Lucid Grounds saw the five men return to the stage dressed in dark suits for an electric performance. There were solo performances, high energy twists and turns as well as gravity-defying lifts and movements. The physical strength of the dancers could be seen in this performance as well as their stamina as they continued to jump, twist and run across the stage in an exploration of the brain and the possibility of experiencing others peoples’ memories, blurring the lines between the real and the emotional.
Images courtesy of Nottingham Lakeside Arts
Sources