DANCE

“No Place”

Choreography by Adelina Larsson

QL2 Dance Theatre, Gorman House, season closed.

Reviewed by Samara Purnell

UPON entering the theatre, one is invited to walk through the set. Microphones hang from above, between networks of tangled string. Video plays – dark, subtle mostly, black and white shapes.

The brainchild of Adelina Larsson, this work-in-progress is inspired by the transitional state between sleep and wakefulness and the experience of those suffering a disordered, life-effecting state – hypnagogia.

The idea is that the dancers induce this state in themselves as they perform, which they say they managed to achieve, and invite the audience to join them.

Amelia McQueen’s narration and improvisation was well-timed, maintaining the disarmingly vague stare of someone awake, but not processing.

Janine Proost’s dynamic technique commanded attention. Alison Plevey and Holly Diggle completed the quartet of dancers. Diggle’s slow sequence was quite hypnotising, although most dance phrases were abrupt and discordant.

Sarah Kaur developed the video installation. If funding allows development into a full-length work, the soundscape (which resembles an alien invasion) and video could be made even more impactful with surround sound and some staging tweaks. The choreography will be challenging to sustain interest exactly as is, and more thought could go into wardrobing.

It’s an interesting and complicated concept (the dancers noted that during the three-week creative process their sleep had been disturbed and their dreams more vivid and memorable). Larsson’s desire to induce a semi-conscious state on the audience may not come off as hoped just yet, but as the performance pulls you in, it abruptly ends… a bit like sleep – for those who aren’t hypnagogic.