Young Critics Wales Review: National Youth Dance Wales

‘The future of contemporary dance looks bright in Wales'

National Youth Dance Wales 2014
28th August, Sherman theatre Cardiff.

 
The main stage of the Sherman Theatre was set alight with energy and talent in this year’s summer performance by National Youth Dance Wales.

The scheme itself gives the opportunity for a group of young dancer’s aged 18-21 the highly valuable experience of working intensively with internationally renowned dancers and choreographers in a professional and creative environment.  

This year’s chosen young performers worked alongside internationally renowned choreographer Odette Hughes, working with her to create a brand new piece under her direction, as well as learning an existing NYDW piece Theo Clinkard’s ‘scuse me while I kiss the sky.  The summer programme culminated with a night of dance at the Sherman in which both of these dance pieces were featured. NYDW also values working with other local welsh dance companies and the evening also included an equally impressive performance by Swansea's County Youth's dance company.

 Theo Clinkard 'scuse me while I kiss the sky was a perfectly chosen piece to showcase the talents of the young dancers. The company had no doubt been put through their paces with the physically demanding choreography within piece but stepped up to the challenge, performing it visible ease and style.  The piece itself focused upon the idea of the inner rock star within an individual and was accompanied by an appropriate indie rock soundtrack. The piece seemed young and fresh making it appropriate for the young dancers. The music itself helped to create a highly charged energy which was successfully matched by the energy of the focused performers.  The way in which the piece was choreographed fitted the purpose of the evening, as it allowed for many solo performances which gave the opportunity for the performer’s to showcase their own individuality as a dancer.

 The stylised lighting and design choices of each of the performances were beautifully simplistic. This effectively highlighted the beauty of the movement without overshadowing the talent of the performers as the focus of the night.

 The final piece of the performance that was created by the young dancer’s and Hughes was an incredibly mature and powerful piece.  The energy created was completely different to the highly charged performance of Clinkard’s work, but nevertheless created an equally memorable performance.  The sequence within the piece which featured each dancer performing in their own personal box of light created a striking image for the audience. This image was only highlighted further by the highly disciplined way in which the dancers seamlessly moved in synch with each other, creating what became one whole body of movement.

The young performers should be incredibly proud in what they have achieved after only working with each other for such a short period of time. The level of professionalism and discipline from each young performer created a performance of a highly professional standard, establishing themselves as the future of contemporary dance in Wales.

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