Laban Review
This afternoon, on Thursday the 14th November, we watched a performance by the third year Laban Company. They performed 2 pieces called something from nothing/nothing from something and all that remains and I found the performances to more beneficial to my dance career and now I know how to give and amazing performance because the show has made me reflect on my future goals. I thought the performance was different and I can now see and understand the work they do at Laban.
The first piece something from nothing/nothing from something which I found very strange but I liked it. They started off with no lights and small movement and then they used dimmed light which I thought was effective on showing the main parts and people performing. They was moving around each other but never touching, they would get so close but never touch and I picked up on this straight away. I liked the way the used different levels and I felt it had a climatic feel to it, giving it edge. As I was sitting right at the front I could see everyone and the performers were so concentrated and had nothing behind the eyes. A girl done a move right in front of me and she had so much strength when she plied so slowly I was amazed and couldnât take my eyes off of her. The music was strange, I felt that some of what they performed really did not go with the music but other times they would impulse and it would go with the music so well. The music gave a weird emotion to the audience, as in it wasnât love but it wasnât sadness, it was nothing but I still felt it. When we had the q&a someone asked about the emotion they was meant to be showing and they answered by saying that they wasnât looking for a feeling to show to the audience, just something in between. Â A positive about this performance was that they had such good concentration and focus it made it work well but I feel they could have used better music.
The second piece I thought was a bit more lively and the fact that so many things were going on I never lost interest and something new always caught my eye. The whole piece was different people running across the room diving onto the floor or standing doing different positions and holding them then running back around the room to do another one. I also noticed that they changed performers so we was not seeing the same faces all the way through which I felt was a good idea as they all done different things each time. Once again in this performance they kept all concentration and did not lose it. I also found out in the q&a that it was mostly improvisation, they was given the moves and when to do them but not where to go with them or how long they should be holding them. The music was constant and went with what the performers were doing as that was also consistent.
Over all I enjoyed the performances and I think this year was a lot different to last year. I liked the dynamics and the fact I didnât know what was going to happen next. In comparison both pieces were different but also the same in a way that they were improvised. I also liked the costumes even though they did not know why they chose them kind of questions.Â