OneTouch Theatre, Eden Court, 1 August 2008

Project Y (2007) (photo - www.ydance.org)

THE YOUTHFUL stamina, energy, suppleness and skill of the young dancers selected for the Project Y 2008 tour by YDance, Scotland’s National Youth Dance Company, combined to make them a pleasure to watch.

NDT2 they’re not – but NDT2’s dancers’ famed perfection is the result of intense professional training on a daily basis, thanks to generous financial support by the Dutch government. What Y Dance have in spades is a palpable sense of enjoyment and camaraderie, an area in which for this reviewer they actually surpassed most of the professional companies we have seen at Eden Court this year.

Having nearly two dozen dancers on stage at once poses problems for the choreographer. The tried and tested solution, whether it be corps de ballet or chorus line, is to concentrate on unison of movement, interspersed with passages for smaller units of dancers designed to display their particular strengths.

Of the four choreographers, only Alan Greig drew the unison arrow from his quiver and used it, to great effect, to conclude Eye of the Beholder, the third course on the Project Y 2008 menu. “Where is the eye drawn? Where can it be made to look?”, said the programme notes for this piece. Where indeed? After watching Project Y, it was impossible not to conclude that this phrase was key and that “focus” should be the enforced keyword for next year’s choreographers.

The show began with Three Songs of Lament and Celebration, by Duncan Macfarland, set to some appetising music from eastern Mexico, and it was at first exhilarating to see a profusion of twenty two enthusiastic young dancers ebbing and flowing across the stage. However, as time passed, exhilaration ebbed and was replaced by a growing sense of confusion in the audience. Where were we being made to look? It was difficult to know.

The second course, Anna Kenrick’s Freefall, with music by Quee Macarthur, was danced by girls dressed in a striking costume of cream hooped petticoats over black corset tops and red leggings, looking very professional. The petticoats whirled interestingly, but ultimately encumbered and once they were discarded, the dancers were able to display a far more relaxed competence, while the audience could concentrate on the dance, and the pace picked up considerably.

Back to Eye of the Beholder. Unlike playwrights who, pace Mike Leigh, usually hand a completed work over to the director, most choreographers enter the rehearsal studio with just a general idea of the work they are about to make. The dancers’ input is rarely acknowledged, so a medal for Alan Greig, who generously and truthfully gave joint programme credit to Project Y’s young dancers while imposing a firm directorial structure, combining group, partner and solo work to great effect.

The soundscape began with extracts from ‘Dead Letters’, a collage of spoken word, music and sound by American audio artist Gregory Whitehead, and a challenging piece to move to even for a professional company, then segued into the Chemical Brothers’ ‘Piku’. Ydance, dressed in simple, quasi-military tops and black leggings, managed to find the rhythms and landmarks even in the spoken word, acquitting themselves with distinction as they marched, wheeled, crouched and leaped with elan.

Andy Howitt, director of Ydance, closed the evening with Oxymoron, set to a cracking selection of tunes by Edinburgh’s Paul Haig (formerly of Josef K, and musical godfather to Franz Ferdinand, The Killers and Bloc Party). In spite of the impeccable choice of music, an understandable desire to allow every one of his charges to make the most of their time in the limelight meant that the end result again lacked that crucial focus.

Where was the eye drawn? Everywhere – it left one with a feeling of anxiety at missing something over there by looking elsewhere…. No such worries, however, beset Eden Court dance artist Louise Marshall, proudly watching two of her pupils like a mother hawk.

Some technical awards now – mention must be made of the imaginative lighting and back projections by George Tarbuck, while it is no easy matter to design four sets of costumes for so many dancers on an undoubtedly limited budget; June Young had used her imagination and the dancers’ wardrobes to great effect.

Finally, kudos and congratulations to Andy Howitt and his team for assembling and enthusing such an engaging group of dancers. They showed great promise and it is to be hoped that we shall be seeing some of them back here in the future, but in a professional capacity.

© Jennie Macfie, 2008

Links

• YDance
• Eden Court Theatre