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Tuesday 2 December 2008

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Choice pickings

Giannandrea Poesio

Wednesday, 8th October 2008

Merce Cunningham Dance Company
Barbican

Swan Lake
Royal Opera House

Scottish Ballet
Queen Elizabeth Hall

As if by tacit agreement, Dance Umbrella and the Royal Ballet started their new seasons with classics of their respective dance cultures. A regular Umbrella visitor, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company is a safe choice to kick off with, for it ticks all the right boxes. As an undisputed father of American modern dance, Cunningham, at 89, is one of the most iconic figures of today’s dance world; his choreographic work too, which derives some principles from the classical idiom, has for modern dance followers the same significance that Swan Lake has for the ballet lot. As is customary, the first programme on show provided a well formulated overview of recent and not-so-recent works, moving from the splendidly rarefied atmospheres of 1960’s Crises, to the electrifying game of choreographic dissonances of 2007’s Xover set to the equally irresistible John Cage’s ‘Aria’. This was masterfully performed live by Joan La Barbara and the Fontana Mix Performers.

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