Richard Alston Dance Company
The deep magic music can conjure with dance
Richard Alston Dance Company
The Lowry, Tue 8 April 2008
Press night, Tue 8 April, 7.30pm
Richard Alston Dance Company present their spectacular Spring production at The Lowry this April. Among the talented dancers will be Jonathan Goddard recently nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance and winner of Best Male Dancer in this year’s Critics Circle National Dance Awards.
No other dance company places such emphasis on the importance of music. Alston’s latest work entitled Lazy River is a homage to American songwriter Hoagy Carmichael, composer of Lazy River and Riverboat Shuffle amongst many other iconic songs in the Great American Songbook.
Body & Soul is a new work by Martin Lawrance, who was a dancer with RADC from its founding until his retirement in November 2007. The piece is set to Schumann’s Dichterliebe for Piano and Tenor Voice and will be performed live.
The repertoire also includes Richard Alston’s Fingerprint, Nigredo and Gypsy Mixture, as well as Brink by Martin Lawrance.
Fingerprint is set to Bach’s Capriccio and Toccata in D Major, performed live onstage by long-time Alston collaborator, pianist Jason Ridgway. Nigredo, which was created for a 2007 project with the Society for the Promotion of New Music and set to piano music by British composer Simon Holt, is a series of intimate and intricate duets. Gypsy Mixture was choreographed in 2004 and set to music by Balkan singers remixed by DJs from all over the world. Lawrance’s Brink, which premiered in 2007, is set to quirky score of Japanese tango music played on the accordion.
Hastings-born Jonathan Goddard trained at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. In 1999 he joined Scottish Dance Theatre and went on to dance with Richard Alston Dance Company in 2002.
Launched in 1994 to great acclaim, Richard Alston Dance Company has grown into one of Britain's most celebrated contemporary companies. The Company is based at The Place, London's home for dance, where Alston is Artistic Director.
Alston is one of the most inspiring and influential figures in British dance. He choreographed his first work in 1968 as one of the original students at London School of Contemporary Dance, directed this country's first independent dance company, Strider, and was Artistic Director of Rambert Dance Company from 1986 to 1992.
The Lowry season of dance also includes Richard Alston Dance Company and NDT1. We’re also delighted to welcome the first visits for La la la Human Steps, Beijing Modern Dance Company and Fabulous Beast. And last but certainly not least, dance legend Sylvie Guillem will be joined on stage by Russell Maliphant for a mixed programme of solo pieces and duets in PUSH. The Lowry is offering a special multi-buy opportunity for 2 or more dance shows this season with tickets at £10 per seat.
Posted on Thursday, 10 April 2008 under Press Theatre Press