Daniel Leveille Danse

[jacob]

Thursday, October 28th 2010.
Venue:The Place: Robin Howard Theatre

Amour, Acide et Noix

This has been my week for avant-garde dance!
Dance Umbrella 2010 has brought a programme of new dance to London during October. This piece was performed by a Company from Montreal formed by the choreographer, Daniel Leveille.
There were four dancers, three men and a woman. The music was credited as Vivaldi's Four Seasons in the programme. In fact it was built from a number of elements of which the Four Seasons made up only a part. There was bird song and a range of rock music too which led to a certain degree of unpredictabilty which I am sure was intentional. The dances were performed with different combinations of the cast in distinct sequences. The dancers' movements were choreographed to represent aspects of human feelings, some tender and some harsh. I saw in the movements a pervading instinctive wish to escape from the constraints of the human body. The performance of Amour, Acide et Noix lasted an hour with no interval and was received by the large audience with enthusiasm. I found it draining but rewarding.

Incidentally, the four dancers were naked throughout the performance.