The Curve Foundation

Published Thursday 24 May 2007 at 17:35 by Thom Dibdin

The step change taken by Ross Cooper’s Curve Foundation, up from the stage of the Brunton Hall to the focusing environment of the King’s Theatre, has brought a different and not always complimentary perspective to the company’s work. There is a distance, which emphasises the negative and demands a far greater rigour in the dancers’ approach.

Nowhere is this more noticeable than in Henry Oguike’s opening Violet. The Edinburgh Quartet’s delicate and precise live rendition of Vivaldi’s Summer, from the Four Seasons, only highlights the lackadaisical air about the on-stage performance. Oguike’s jerky choreography is not given the precision it deserves and despite some strong individual work, notably from Maud Liardon, the company lacks cohesion.

The two subsequent solos give an utterly different complexion on the whole evening, however. Michelle Denholm’s silent performance of CervaNtes by Ana Lujen Sanchez is light, airy, and utterly physical, while Soraya Ham delights in Rui Lopes Graca’s Savalliana.

Ham and Liardon return for the most centrepiece of the whole programme, a UK premier of William Forsythe’s Duo. A bare, draper-free stage and similarly austere and revelatory costumes frame a piece of pure dance for movement’s sake. While the two dancers’ breathing rhythmically augments Thom Willems’ sparse piano, performed by Graeme McNaught, the very rippling of their muscles is a part of the choreography.

By the time Michelle Denholm’s opening solo begins the final piece of the evening, Rio Lopes Graca’s Under the Skin, the company have hit their stride. There is still a disconcerting imprecision about the ensemble’s unity in movement, but of its unity in purpose, there is no question.