Review- Come Across- City Contemporary Dance Company
10-12-18
By Rhian Widdowson
‘Come Across’ showed us two performances by two different choreographers with the dancers of City Contemporary Dance Company. The performances were polar opposites in the world of contemporary dance and showed the diversity and possibilities there are in it.
The first piece, ‘Nutshell’, choreographed by Noel Pong, is a piece connected to an experiment that Noel read about. Talking with the choreographer, she explains that she was fascinated by this experiment where people willingly admitted themselves into a physiatrist ward and then eventually they themselves became insane.
She wanted to understand the feelings that these people must’ve been going through and express it through her choreography. She discusses how the meaning of the piece is more important than the actual movements.
The setting includes a stage within the stage, and this represents the physiatric ward. You become more aware of what it represents the further into the piece you get. This is a developing piece and so can feel a little disjointed at first until it all comes together. There are eerie, comical and also intense moments.
The highlights for me were the duets that had beautiful lines and aesthetically pleasing moments that really
showed off the technical ability of the dancers involved. Dancers Bobo Lai and Terry Tsang stood out for me in this piece. They both had great unity along with a personal style and interpretation of the movements and emotions being expressed.
This piece includes various props, including a harmonica being played on stage by one of the dancers to end the performance. This piece conveyed a lot of emotions, and definitely stirred my thoughts and made me reflect.
The second part was ‘Jangdan’, by Kim Jaeduk, a Korean choreographer who uses a fusion of western and far east arts influence in his work. This is my favourite dance performance that I have seen in a long time. In this piece, costumes, setting and lighting were kept simple so that all the attention was on the movement and its
connection to the music. The music, a mixture of hip hop, techno and rock, has a heavy strong beat that accumulates and grows into crescendos. The movement follows this and gradually builds, using repetition and adding in new movements to increase the intensity. The movements are original, showing unique ways in which to move and use the body. He uses lots of transitions in his piece and they are seamless and constantly changing.
In a question and answer with Kim, he talks about his focus on movement and challenging himself to keep audiences constantly connected to his work. This was a very powerful and captivating piece that showed the strength and passion of the dancers of CCDC. Dancer, Natalie Mak, really shone in this piece. She
showed strength, control and precision throughout the entire piece, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her!
An excellent evening of dance and Kim Jaeduk is definitely a choreographer that I will now be following to see what original work he creates next and what possibilities he explores.
The show has now ended.
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