UK Theatre Network

Mark Morris Dance Group

Theatre Royal, Newcastle

Friday 13^th November 2009

INDIFFERENCE is probably the worst reaction that any performance can generate – it means that, for whatever reason, the production has not sufficiently engaged the watcher to provoke a more emotive response.

The Mark Morris Dance Group is renowned for its innovative contemporary dance performances.Indeed its namesake has been described as ‘one of the greatest choreographers of our time’ and his multi-award winning group – which started in 1980 in Brooklyn, New York – is now one of the world’s leading companies. Sadly, their latest repertoire, which played two nights at the Theatre Royal, failed to offer anything outstanding.

Although the auteur will always have a preferred meaning, often the individual will form their own interpretation of what is being performed on stage in front of them. Some may not even look beyond the aesthetics of the piece to find their enjoyment.

The programme comprised four different routines, each with a style, tone and mood of their own. The first, performed to Bach’s Italian Concerto, was perhaps the closest to what might be described as conventional dance.

Going Away Party, a camp, kitsch cowboy routine, entertained the audience with its swivelling hips and gyrating crotches. Personally, though, I felt that almost twenty five minutes of corny country and western was a tad too long.

Three Preludes, which replaced the billed Excursions, was a solo performed by Bradon McDonald to Gershwin’s Preludes For Piano. Costumed in black and white, presumably as a metaphor of the piano keys, the movements were Pierrot-esque.

The final piece, Grand Duo, was a spectacle of ritualistic fist-clenching, feet-stomping and body-writhing, in which the loin-clothed performers were almost tribal in their movement and expression.

What failed to impress me was the clumsiness with which some of the movements were executed. You don’t have to be an aficionado of contemporary dance to spot a wobbly landing or two.

Steve Burbridge.