College Dance Company creates magical menagerie
Posted on Saturday 28 November 2009
Dance students perform The Carnival of Animals in the Prospect Theatre
Dazzling Celebration of Life on Earth by College Dance Company
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The Prospect Theatre was transformed this week by the extraordinary skill and invention of the College Dance Company who performed their own choreographed pieces on the theme of animals.
Like an episode from the TV series Life, to the evident delight of packed houses, the dancers transfixed us with an enchanting miasma of colour and abundant zest. At first a gorgeous birdhouse, alive with an amazing array of feathered friends; a procession of dignified elephants; stunning swans illuminated the space before a vast colony of hilarious penguins appeared, straight from the frozen wastes of Antarctica – these were Happy Feet indeed! Enter the flamingos – an entourage of preening, beautifully self-regarding creatures in their slinky, sensuous, shocking pink. Horses, bucking and spirited, a wood filled with cuckoos before the masterful, genuinely show stopping, chase of the gorillas brought the first half to an end. David Attenborough would have been captivated by this thrilling, tribe of moody, magnificent primates thumping, swaggering and stomping to the beat.
After the interval , more surprises awaited in this magical menagerie animated for us by the Dance Company of over 80 first and second year students, inspired by the talented team of dance teachers Sally Allsford and Emily Burke: Sian Brown’s beautiful and elegant solo swan song, slithering snakes, colourful kangaroos, the cutest of itchy-scratchy, side-splitting field mice, spectacular shoals of twisting, tropical fish, a warren of rabbits and stately giraffes, gathered from the plains of Africa! Assisted by the stage management of Lauren Geary and the technical wizardry of Jack Salzman, this was a confident ensemble performance choreographed superbly to explore every inch of floor space in this intimate venue. The Carnival of Animals was a dazzling celebration of life on earth brought to us by a troupe of outstanding performers: bravo!
