Resolution! is a contemporary dance festival that takes place every year in London. It takes place between January and February. Everyday there are three performances and different dance companies have the opportunity to show their recent work. It includes over a hundred contemporary pieces that choreographers and dancers have created for this years show. I went to this year’s show on the eighth of January at 8 PM.
Resolution! 2011 took place at Robin Howard Dance Theatre in London. It is the most popular theatre for contemporary dance currently in London. The theatre was named after Robin Howard after it was refurbished in 2001. The theatre is located in The Place Theatre. John Ashford, The Place’s former director, created Resolution! in 1989 (The Place). This festival has helped start many careers in the United Kingdom.
This year’s show included three very different performances. The first performance was Moliére’s, The Sicilian and it was done by the Côte à Côte Theatre Company. This brilliant performance lasting twenty-four minutes, I believe, was very well done and all of the dancers played an important role in contributing to the main themes of the performance, which were jealousy, passion and scheming. The Sicilian is about the story of Adraste, that contained many different types of dance, the main one being Tango. Adraste longs for Isidore but she has a jealous fiancé, Don Pedro. He makes a plan to steal her away, with the help of his mischievous friend Hali. I had the opportunity to speak with one of the dancers, Beth Louvghran, who was also the movement director for this performance. She played the role of the Isidore’s inner feelings during the show. Beth is a dancer but she explained how she got to play more of an acting role in this performance. I interpreted her role to show the main theme of the passion that Isidore was feeling as Adraste tried to swoon her. He also was portraying passion by doing everything he could to have her.
The second performance on the eighth, titled the Heart of Ice by the Maaikor Dance Company choreographed by Keren’Or Pazard. Anastasia Kostner, the only dancer in this performance, moved in very eccentric positions to show, I believe, her struggle at first as if she was trapped or uncomfortable. Her movements looked very difficult to perform but she kept the motion, gaining more confidence with each move. As she went further on in her dance she used more space and grew more comfortable and content with what she was doing.
The third and final performance, titled Threshold by Joss Arnott Dance. This performance was full of energy and the crowd absolutely loved it. Throughout the performance, there were harsh amounts of red and blue lighting. When more than one person was on the stage, the music sped up and the dancers were moving faster. After they were done there was high amount of energy in the crowd when they were applauding the performance. In my opinion, it was a great performance to end off the show with. It left people feeling excited and energetic as they left the theatre.
Works Cited
“Resolution! 2011.” Place (2010): n. pag. Web. 16 Jan 2011. <http://www.theplace.org.uk/?lid=5909>.