Forward in Motion: Unwritten Dance Review

Forward in Motion Dance Festival 2011

Shifting Time

Choreographed by Andrea Buckley
Performed by Unwritten Dance

This performance was more like a ‘conventional’ one in the way that the audience were seated and they had to remain there throughout. There was no interaction made between performers and dancers unlike Influx’s piece. The performance had a clear structure from beginning to end and the same group of dancers were used all the way through. They had a very large area to dance in and they made use of the many different entrances, exits and small areas at the side of the performance space.

On the whole, I really enjoyed watching this piece because it flowed so well together. Each sectioned blended into one another and the dancers complimented this with their ease of movement. The style of movement was lovely to watch and it is something I would like to do if I had the opportunity to. It was so fluid and always continuing, I felt as if I could have watched them moving for hours on end. They used the whole space with their movements and they were weaving in and out of each other effortlessly.  I liked the use of props because it was different to the other piece I saw. It was very clever how they were used and where they were placed in the space. On the other hand, they also used vocals like Influx and it was interesting to hear people speaking in their native language.

From watching the piece, I have a lot of unanswered questions which I am still trying to figure out by myself. I believe that the title of the piece, ‘Shifting Time’, was reflected very clearly throughout the performance. When the dancers created a line it almost felt as if they were creating their own time line. The bouncing of the ball represented the seconds. When they created a diagonal line with the props it appeared to me that the old was transferring into the new. More antique, old props were used and they slowly became newer and more recent. This shows the shift in time.

I also feel the name of the company can be seen as a theme during the piece.  When the dancers were talking in their own language and whispering to each other, it made me think that the information was unwritten. When one of the dancers was writing on the wall it didn’t make any sense, this also made me think of unwritten.