Dancing with wolves and a troupe of 60 stage amateurs
Generations combine in tale of personal triumph
Barrowland Ballet never dodge away from that responsibility. They interact with their new partners, some of them barely half their size, with a lovely dash of fun, but sequences where little ones are carried shoulder high or whirled around become more than just games-play. They become expressions of trust, astutely choreographed moments of childhood adventure, even risk, while being supported by a safe pair of hands.
It sounds simple, but Wolves is in fact a sophisticated jigsaw of sequences suggested by everyday life experiences, be they tinged with dark disappointments or alive with happy self-discovery.
Many a musician would demand a safe, even elevated, place on a stage where wooden crates get hefted about, apples (borrowed from SnowWhite!) get hurled through the air and energetic dancers shift direction as if on impulse. Not Mairi Campbell, co-composer with Luke Sutherland of a soundscore that is a fabulous mosaic of rhythms, moods and tunes. And who is frequently in the centre of the action? It’s Campbell, playing viola and vocalising in song or in wordless spirals of pitch-shifting tonalities. She’s akin to a Pied Piper, or maybe the narrator of the morality tales and fairy-stories that provide inspiration.
Threaded through the choreography is a strand of questioning: who told you that you couldn’t?; who said you must? Who – particularly in the case of women – held you back from being yourself? The dance itself is charged with images of rebellion against conventional order, of standing up to those who exclude and discriminate against you. Gilmore’s dancers may power the performance, but every individual has a chance to be centre-stage, unafraid of any lurking wolves that force a straight and narrow path through the woods. Life-affirming and hugely moving, I wasn’t the only one stifling tears at the end. Lesley McDowell IMMIGRATION judge James Hanratty might have underestimated his audience was on Friday. He gave an articulate speech about his job spelling out basics his listeners were beyond.
He explained the difference in status between refuges and asylum seekers, the need for immigration control and the lack of law enforcement needed to enact decisions. Then one man queried his suggestion that those in troubled parts of Africa be encouraged to go to neighbouring countries, not Europe. Strong tribal borderlines made that often impossible, the questioner said. Hanratty had to admit he was right.
It was generous of him to do so, even if it was a little uncomfortable hearing one highly informed question after another suggest he’d pitched things a little low.
No such problem for BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner who was happy to divulge that at each of the three UK security services, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, there are only a couple of people who engage with the press, and their favourite phrase for handling leading questions is “I wouldn’t steer you away from that.”
But for any of them to issue the kind of denial GCHQ did with regard to Donald Trump’s accusation they helped Barack Obama wire-tap him, was unprecedented. His greatest worry was what Trump would do in the event of a missile launch against the US. And this from a man who’d arrived in Glasgow on St Patrick’s Day. “The whole
Dance