A vibrant bill of varied dance is set to light up theatre stage
One of the world’s most celebrated contemporary dance companies hits the North East stage later this month – and you could be there for free.
Nederlands Dans Theater 2 are limbering up to bring their vibrant and varied show to Theatre Royal Newcastle from April 26-27 as part of a country-wide tour with Dance Consortium UK.
Last seen in the UK in 2012, NDT2 brings vibrant mixed bills to the UK in performances complemented by visual art, music composition, innovative lighting, set and costume designs.
NDT2 will perform I New Then, by Swedish choreographer Johan Inger, which sees four girls and five boys taken to great heights on songs by Van Morrison.
A spokeswoman from Theatre Royal said: “Inger’s work breathes humour: it’s fresh and optimistic, ranging from comic and theatrical to earthy and organic.”
Inger made his breakthrough as a choreographer in 1995 after a successful dancing career with Nederlands Dans Theater. His choreographies have won numerous prestigious awards.
Meanwhile, a UK Premiere of Romanian choreographer Edward Clug’s Mutual Comfort marks his NDT2 debut.
The spokeswoman said: “The choreography is detailed, sharply defined and at times features a twitchiness where the bodies flick and jerk so extremely and frequently that it can be interpreted as punctuation; a certain acknowledgment of the beat. Clug is interested in highlighting the dancers’ individual stories in his work.
“Mutual comfort emphasises personal experience that arises from the process of creation that is led by illuminating human contradictions and imparting surprising moments of beauty and spontaneous irony.”
Also being performed is Solo, which was created for NDT2 by award-winning choreographer Hans Van Manen in 1997. This seven-minute, fast-paced ballet is set to Johann Sebastian Bach’s violin partita.
Solo is an athletic tour-deforce for three male dancers who portray a single man reexamining his place in the world.
In 2010 Swedish-born choreographer Alexander Ekman created the international hit Cacti for NDT2, which will also be performed. Cacti, for which Ekman uses classical music, resulted in a new arrangement of Schubert’s Der Tod und das Mädchen, created with Het Balletorkest (formerly known as Holland Symphonia).
In Cacti sixteen dancers become the instruments of the orchestra as Ekman challenges the audience to reflect on the way in which art is perceived. Cacti was nom-