Entity

Published Friday 11 April 2008 at 12:30 by Katie Colombus

Talk of kinaesthetics, calculated movement and mathematical precision would send some dance fans running for the emergency exit. For those who think dance should be about the art experience - visual appreciation and emotional interpretation - the science of motion can seem a little cold and clinical.

But for Wayne McGregor, the end result is a metaphor for his creative process and the final piece not bound to its original stimuli.

Sure, there is a background video wall showing cells, molecules, atoms and illuminated diagrams of mathematical equations and numbers and the dancers do move like electrons - singular and sporadic - but the overall experience is one of incredible beauty.

There are images of struggle and conflict that come from our newspapers, our hearts, our everyday struggles, pursuits and despairs. We see snippets of scientific pursuits, but also personal, social and political.

The piece is evolutionary and progressive, dealing with birth and slow change, loss and suffering, death and renewal.

The dancers are lithe and sinuous, their movement enticing and surreal. They are all excellent - some more technically able, some more expressively so, but it’s a company of gems and very few flaws, seen particularly in Agnes Lopez Rio and Antione Vereecken.

Segments of the hour-long work are sometimes inconclusive with no finite ending. But this sketchy editing brings a rough quality to the work, giving it a raw edge and a dimension of reality that you don’t usually see in a polished full-length piece.

Entity is the first genuinely exciting contemporary dance work to be made for a long time and McGregor’s almost obsessive systemising and classifying of new and original movement triumphs - both kinaesthetically and artistically.