Here’s an idea for tackling the energy crisis – find a way to connect balletLORENT to the grid.
My goodness! On the evidence of this latest presentation, which leaves its dancers panting on the floor, it could power homes from, I’d guess, Heddon-on-the-Wall to Newcastle city centre.
At least the dancers could take their clothes off. And did.
We in the audience had to sweat it out in the heat generated by seven adrenalin-fuelled bodies giving it everything.
While the dancers gulped oxygen, the audience collectively held its breath. This was so extraordinary, so uninhibited, so well executed. In short, so brilliant.
Some blasé dance buffs might think they’ve seen it all. If they haven’t seen balletLORENT in the fast lane, I suggest they think again.
We sat cabaret-style round an arena seemingly part gym, part circus ring. A mighty coil dangled from the ceiling, strings of lights twinkled overhead and swathes of pale sheeting were artfully draped.
The music cranked up, young Albie Crompton’s accomplished keyboard playing segueing into Ezio Bosso’s thumping recorded soundtrack, and sauntering on from each corner came a figure… a girl in green, a man in black with a beanie hat. They began to tap and then to stamp. And then it all kicked off.
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Liv Lorent’s company has always valued individuality over chorus line uniformity and in The Becoming each dancer performs as a distinct entity and part of a choreographed whole.
Costumes by Nasir Mazhar, fantasy creations in creamy white, rose like mist – hats, masks, gowns, even tails.
There was much robing and disrobing, often while also climbing and balancing. No-one faltered or fell. As one who struggles with a sock, I was much in awe.
It was like being witness to one of those magical moments of metamorphosis in nature when a chrysalis disgorges a fragile thing of beauty.
That or a fabulous bunfight in a linen closet.
There was no one image to take away because everyone’s perspective will have been different. Stuff was happening here, there and everywhere.
Two lithe bodies ascending that giant coil, one passing over the other, will stay with me, along with the dancers on oxboards (I had to Google it) moving gently in unison.
Strength and stamina were obvious but also mutual trust. Several of these dancers have worked with Liv Lorent for many years and it showed. They go the extra yard for her.
As the workaday clothes returned and the dancers summoned energy for a final bow, you knew they’d been on a journey and given everything. The applause hiked the temperature another notch.
This, incidentally, is the first full production for a grown-up audience staged at balletLORENT’s new home in the John Marley Centre in Newcastle’s west end.
Here, when not planning their next adventure, they host fun movement classes while extending a welcome to everybody. For a company with starry ambitions but rooted in community, it’s the perfect spot.
There’s one more performance of The Becoming (July 13, 8pm) but just about sold out at the time of writing. Keep an eye open for future productions on the balletLORENT website.
