Richard Alston Dance Company - Fingerprint/ Nigredo/ Brink/ Gypsy Mixture

Published Friday 16 November 2007 at 11:05 by Thom Dibdin

The first three dances of this varied programme, all new for 2007, provide an austere and overly punctilious contrast to its finale, the 2004 crowd-pleaser, Gypsy Mixture. The latter, whose funky hip-twitching combination of classical and modern steps is choreographed by Alston and revived by Martin Lawrence, at least ensures that the audience will go away knowing that more is worth having.

The opening piece, Alston’s Fingerprint, similarly reflects its music - in this case early J S Bach rather than 21st century beats. Like Bach’s Capriccio and Toccata, performed live by Jason Ridgway, it is precise and articulate in its construction, but it lacks warmth.

There is a deep sense of loss within the choreography - Martin Lawrence’s opening solo is essentially a one-sided duet, with the other dancer leaving the stage as the curtain rises. Yet for all the technical brilliance of the five dancers in the Capriccio, it is too clinical in its presentation for the humanity of the piece to surface until after the start of the Toccata and the arrival of Jonathan Goddard on stage.

Not that Alston’s Nigredo and Lawrence’s Brink would have been any easier as openers. Nigredo uses Simon Holt’s discordant piano piece and, while finding a choreographic demonstration of the point at which base metal burns and transmutes into precious gold, is not easy on the ears.

Brink has a greater warmth to it, using Ayuo’s Eurasian Tango to strong effect. Helen Cain’s lighting transforms the stage, creating a dark heart in which the three couples can encroach, but this still perpetuates the feeling of technical elegance and emotional emptiness.