IT's rare to come across a double bill where both pieces leave you not just aware - and in awe - of the dancers' bodies, but also aware - and possibly surprised - by your own! Even without having to make any conscious analytical effort, just watching the articulate physicality of Davies's choreography leaves you marvelling at the cunning design features that make up the human body.
Then, just as the notion of body-as-machinery is taking hold of your imagination - the choreography reminds you that man is much more than a machine: man has intellect, emotion, wit and a need to connect with other individuals and with society - in Winsboro Cotton Mill Blues, which Davies made originally for Rambert, but which is now tweaked to fit her own company's particular thrust - this message rises, subtly, through a shift in emphasis. The brattling clatter of working looms introduces movement that is lean, sharp, mechanistic: dancers don't just work the machines, they become them. But when respite comes, those self same angularities and load-bearing counterbalances soften. Bodies are no longer driven, but freed - so that shoulders shrug to ease aches, limbs are seen to wind down. And joint effort becomes shared weariness. Watching, you can feel, this - and feel it, too, in the
hammering thrum of Rzewski's piano music.
The music for 88 - various piano studies by Conlan Nancarrow, played live on the pianola by Rex Lawson - also makes itself felt as well as heard: swarms of stinging notes that tattoo patterns in the mind and yet, the dance itself is often tender, playful, sensual and amused.
At times it's as if the mechanical action of the pianola leaps on stage, as a phrase of curving movement transfers, rapidly, along the line of dancers.
Other moments - abetted by the rings, lines, and criss-crosses that pattern the floor - hint at the mathematical structures that underpin our very existence, even as that existence flares its hormones in sultry Spanish-inflected steps!
88 sees Davies and her truly outstanding company celebrating a decade's dancing with a work of blissful intricacy that, above all, revels in letting bodies speak for us, and to us.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article