Scottish Dance Theatre

Shan, Ben, Jon & I went to catch the Scottish Dance Theatre's (SDT) performance at The Place, a contemporary dance school. The SDT is the same group that ran the workshop I went to a couple of days before. I had heard that the dance tenderhook was "very beautiful" and was keen to watch it. It was actually the dance on which the workshop was based, but they didn't teach the choreography during the workshop, just the techniques.

To be honest, I was a little disappointed with tenderhook. The reviews were so good, and the mental images conjured in my mind after the workshop were very different from how the actual dance looked like. It's a dance that's supposed to explore relationships between people, and I thought it would evoke more emotions and be much more stirring. The music was so good! Unfortunately, it seemed more like a series of movements to me. I knew the significance behind them, since they explained it during the workshop, but I thought there'd be more to it, more blending of movements; instead they took the elements and pieced them together. That's what I thought at least, though they had some interesting use of props. I guess it's just cos I expected so much more. But that's just how it is usually right? When you expect too much you tend to get disappointed.

I was more impressed with Dog. Though requiring less technique, I liked how they kept up the energy and showed commitment to the dance. It involved a lot of explosive movements sandwiched between segments of fluid movements. I always find that you need a certain kind of dancer to be able to pull off such contrasting textures of movement. A lot of times there isn't enough explosiveness, and the movement just looks weak, and the whole effect is lost. But I thought they did it very well, and melted easily from explosive to fluid. I actually also saw more meaning in Dog than in tenderhook. The choreographer made it clear that he didn't have any particular meaning he wanted to convey when he started choreographing the dance, but that that doesn't mean his dance has no meaning. So he urged the audience to see their own meaning in it, i.e., it is pretty much up to you. So to me, it seems like well, we're all sometimes like Dogs. Sometimes kicked around by others, loved by others, sometimes affectionate, scared, conditioned to do certain things, curious, sometimes out of control, etc., but still always very human. I don't profess to understand the whole dance. There were bits that totally didn't make sense to me, but that's the little bit I pulled out from it.