Fingerprint is set to two early works by Bach, a capriccio and a toccata, beautifully played on stage by Jason Ridgway. Before the premiere earlier this year, Alston told me that he had not wanted to use a complex and familiar major work such as the Goldberg Variations, and found the relative simplicity of these pieces very suited to his dance style. The result is a beautiful work in two parts, vaguely linked to the departure of the youthful Johann Sebastian's brother Jakob, whom he never met again.
Alston is experienced enough to resist the temptation to interpret Bach's music note by note, phrase for phrase, and the result, while conveying the feeling of the music - which itself conveys the theme of the piece - is some remarkably free dancing, with a long contemplative solo at the start from Martin Lawrance, and another at the end from the seemingly indefatigable Jonathan Goddard. Among the other dancers Rose Sudworth and Pierre Tappon were outstanding in their duet.
Goddard, Sudworth and Tappon featured again, with Anneli Binder, in Alston's Nigredo, a dark piece to the mysterious, fragmented piano phrases of Simon Holt's music. Nigredo is the medieval dream of turning base metal into gold, and, on a human level, a descent into despair to discover deep self-knowledge from which one can emerge stronger. The work is very sculptured in appearance, with the dancers exuding a feeling of loneliness, of isolation, even when together.
Next came Martin Lawrance's highly enjoyable Brink, premiered last summer, with the dancers responding to the Eurasian tango music of Japanese composer Ayuo, not as tango dancers, but in an expressive series of pieces that seem to work very well with this stimulating musical hybrid. Finally, we had Alston's exhilarating Gypsy Mixture. A musical mixture it is indeed - even more so than the tangos - with Frankfurt disc-jockey Shantel's blend of Balkan and Latin folk music. Here the designer Peter Todd has last departed from his apparent obsession with T-shirt-length mini-dresses worn over tiny shorts, which destroy the dancers' line and make their legs look shorter than they really are. Here we have swirling, colourful skirts giving a lighthearted feeling in keeping with the nature of this work. The dancers and the audience clearly enjoy the piece, which featured the farewell stage-appearance of Alston's long-serving dancer Martin Lawrance, who will now develop his already successful career as a choreographer. It also featured Alston's new acquisition - the delightful young Hannah Kidd - an Oxfordshire girl from South Moreton.
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