Alexander Whitley teamed up with digital artists Marshmallow Laser Feast to bring contemporary dance to Brighton Digital Festival at the start of a national tour.
The fragmented moments in The Measures Taken presented five dancers supported by various projections, bold lighting choices and an underscoring of disjointed sounds.
The dancers were superb, combining flow and precision, creating beautiful stage pictures as individuals and an ensemble. However, the skill of the dancers surpassed the conceptual realisation of the piece.
The audience lacked an anchor to read the relationships which evolved between the dancers with the lighting, music and choreography battling against each other rather than seeking cohesion. More signposting was needed for the audience to interpret the purpose of The Measures Taken – were the episodes linked or isolated?
There were some remarkable visual moments – when the projections responded to the dancers and added some height to the composition. The strong design could have worked more collaboratively with the dancers and created more purpose and drama if they were brought more in synch.
The Measures Taken was a bold piece which has great promise to mature over the course of the tour if they can bring each of the effective elements into a greater cohesion.
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