Firsts - Programme Two

Published Monday 26 November 2007 at 15:10 by Gavin Roebuck

Firsts is part of a series that brings a diverse range of artists to the Royal Opera House. Programme II includes the premiere of Stumbling Over Infinity, a contemporary opera with music by Harvey Brough. This includes the spoken word, and aerial movement. Written and directed by Roswitha Gerlitz, it is at times mournful and a little self-indulgent, performed by aerial artist Charlotte Mooney, singer Marie Vassiliou and violinist Katherine Gowers.

Quick!, by Nina Rajarani, uses classical Bharatanatyam technique and South Indian rhythms. It is a display of eight men working in the cut-throat business world with speed and aggressive interaction between the performers. Putting Bharatanatyam in the world of business, at such a quick pace, is unusual and interesting.

Tracing Shadows contains the ingredients of a fairy story with dark undercurrents. With allusion to the supernatural, it is a cruel tale about a young girl’s struggle with an enchanted blue dress. This solo movement piece by performance artist Helena Hunter explores the idea of femininity as a construct imposed on the body. Her movements are sculpted out of darkness as her body is presented in different stages of transformation. Surreal and striking, with the skilled collaboration of lighting designer Chiara Ambrosio and sound designer Mark Wright, this was an intense, slow-paced, creative and original work by a superb performer.

Good value at just five pounds a ticket, the evening includes aftershow music from the forties & fifties by the trio Dynamo’s Rhythm Aces.