THEIR lips don't move but you can hear these dancers talking. Saying
''I really, really fancy you.'' Or ''You drive me mad, do you know
that?'' Or ''I've had it right up to here.'' Or ''Oh God! Why is
everything such a mess.'' Their lips don't move but their bodies speak,
with rapid hand gestures and expressive stances that choreographer
Jonathan Lunn has transformed from everyday colloquial movement into a
witty, richly textured and exciting dance vocabulary.
And it's not just the accomplished energy of his choreography in
Modern Living that lifts the spirits. It's the boldest of the vision
behind the project, the range and quality of the collaborative talents
involved in it.
On stage, playing live -- and colouring the shifting moods as
significantly as the varying washes of light -- are three class
musicians: saxophonist Andy Sheppard, versatile percussionist Nana
Vasconcelos, keyboard player Steve Lodder. They wrap a really opulent
fusion of sounds around the movement, a collage of bluesy-jazzy-ethnic
music that works responsively with the ideas and dance.
The stage itself is a stylised, stark ''interior''. Peter Mumford's
design tilts a runway round the central area, affording Lunn those
variable levels he enjoys working with. And taking all levels of the
piece in their stride are Lauren Potter, Kerry Woodward and Jordi Cortes
Molina who join Lunn in dancing out the tensions, the emotional
rivalries, the lonely self doubts and fractured relationships of the two
couples who briefly come into the space.
Some sections are, perhaps, a shade overstretched -- the debate at the
table, where all four are semaphoring their viewpoints with such graphic
hand signals, could be pruned but when, for instance, Molina and
Woodward shimmy into a sensuous duet of physical attraction, every step,
every hand gesture is sweetly right.
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