This has to be one of the best contemporary dance companies in the world! Henri Oguike is remarkable for the originality which makes his work instantly recognisable. It's very accessible, and at the same time extremely complex, and the three pieces on show at the Wycombe Swan demonstrate his versatility, his consistency of style, and the very high quality of his dancers.
Just what is that style? What all the works have in common are quick, forceful gestures linking fluid passages, or leading the dancers into frozen, frieze-like poses. Oguike is also very fond of using the floor. Yes, I know all dancers use the floor, but I mean he creates much of the dance with the performers lying down either on the floor or on top of one another. Things happen very fast with this chorographer, and yet everything is clear and logical.
Little Red is simply gorgeous; a series of dances for six women in red to Vivaldi concerti. Five of the dancers, in red dresses, eloquently show us Oguike's powerful response to the music, often moving at terrific speed to pose, suddenly immobile, in angry positions. In the slow movements he shows us he can be lyrical too. The sixth woman, Fukiko Takase, in sparkly red hot-pants, whizzes around them in a puckish obbligato.
Touching All and All Around, two linked pieces separated by a short pause, "explore physicality in a sequence of beautifully crafted solos and duets". Both are striking, but All Around contains one of the most extraordinary duets I have seen. To a deep, rhythmic, Native American chanting, a couple roll and twist over the floor of the stage, sometimes so interlocked you wonder if they can exit from their embrace, at other times seeming to float one above the other. This is both ingenious and satisfying.
Finally came Green in Blue, another musical contrast, with a score played on stage by the renowned jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy and his group. Great stuff!
The Henri Oguike Company are at the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon on Monday and Tuesday, and at the South Bank Centre on March 12 and 13.
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