Rambert, Britain’s national dance company, will present Christopher Bruce’s Ghost Dances, one of the most celebrated works in the company’s history, at Theatr Clwyd in Mold from March 8-11.
The programme will also feature Lucy Guerin’s Tomorrow and Patricia Okenwa’s Hydrargryum.
Ghost Dances by Christopher Bruce was originally created for Rambert in 1981 as a tribute to the victims of political oppression in South America. It received its first revival since 2003 at Festival Theatre, Edinburgh in November 2016 and will tour throughout 2017.
The piece tells stories of love and compassion as death – in the form of the iconic ‘ghost dancers’ – interrupts the daily lives of a series of ordinary people.
Visual references to Day of the Dead celebrations and the bewitching rhythms of traditional Latin American songs together create a moving, intensely human work.
Ghost Dances features costumes by Belinda Scarlett, lighting design by Nick Chelton and musical arrangement by Nicholas Mojsiejenko.
Christopher Bruce is one of Britain’s leading choreographers and is recognised as the last major choreographer to have been nurtured by Marie Rambert.
Bruce is a former dancer and artistic director of Rambert (1992–2002), whose acclaimed work for the company includes Cruel Garden (1977), Swansong (1987) and Rooster (1991).
He has created works for major companies around the world including English National Ballet, Houston Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater and The Royal Ballet.
Lucy Guerin’s Tomorrow follows on from her 2015 collaboration with Carrie Cracknell on Macbeth at the Young Vic, and focusses on some of the main driving themes of the play – fate and inevitability.
Fourteen dancers propel this abstract re-telling of one of Shakespeare’s seminal works on a split stage, with seven re-enacting the play in reverse and the remaining seven as witches.
Set to an original score by British artist Scanner (Robin Rimbaud), Tomorrow features designs by Conor Murphy and lighting design by Lee Curran.
Completing the programme is Hydrargyrum by Patricia Okenwa. A piece for six dancers, Hydrargyrum looks at concepts of connection and disconnection, the individual and the mass. The work features an original score by American-Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov, designs by Jon Bausor, and lighting by Charles Balfour.
A former dancer with Rambert (2004-2016), Hydrargyrum is Patricia Okenwa’s first piece for the company’s touring repertoire. Cited in 2016 by Dance Europe as a name to watch, Okenwa has previously choreographed for BBC Young Dancer of the Year and has upcoming commissions with Edge Dance Company and Music Art London.
Tickets are priced £25-£10. Call 01352 701521 or visit www.theatrclwyd.com
