Sideways Dancing at NottDance

Alias performing Sideways Rain at Nottdance, (c) Carole Edrich 2013

I must have been out of the country when Alias performed at Sadler’s Wells in London last year so am really pleased to have been at the Nottdance Festival this year to cover them. What a fantastic experience!

It was interesting in all kinds of ways and I’ll write more about that when I have a minute (I’m about to rush off to cover more fascinating pieces before leaving Nottdance for London and the Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival which has already started).

For now I just thought I’d share this one observation.

Alias performing Sideways Rain at the Nottingham Playhouse, (c) Carole Edrich 2013

Normally I get a pretty good idea of a piece from the photocall and then, when I join the audience to review it, fill in gaps as I see it from the audiences’ perspective. This time the experiences of shooting and watching the performance were totally different.

In the shoot I saw the patterns of dancers as they travelled from left to right at various speeds. I saw the demanding physicality of the piece, how each individual changed clothes several times and got a feel for the differences of atmosphere, pace and content of the various phases.

During the performance I saw the whole thing come together as a mesmerising whole. I completely lost track of time (don’t remember the last time that happened) because of my involvement in the piece. My eye was fooled into believing that some dancers moved backwards and I was able to appreciate the organised randomness of patterning and form.

Sideways Rain performed by Alias at Nottdance, (c) Carole Edrich 2013

I also appreciated the trends in movement better, the different personalities expressed by the dancers and how interesting parts of the human form were made to rise from the floor in wonderful ways.

If you’ve come here expecting to see a review, it’s one of the best performances I can remember ever seeing. Go see it if you can because you’ll regret it if you don’t