Director and Choreographer: Christie Lee Manning
Legendary acting coach Sanford Meisner’s approach to training focused on throwing out overthinking and instead focusing on responding instinctively to one’s scene partner. Response Theatre Company has been developing a way to apply those same techniques to dance and movement.
Their approach, the Response Movement Method, treats movement as dialogue and music as the scene partner. The method is applied to I Made You a Mixtape, an hour-long dance to 90s rock in which the nine-strong ensemble of women forms a coherent, joyful whole.
The piece starts with some handwritten cue cards telling us that this is not a play, and definitely not a musical, but is begrudgingly described as a sort of dance piece. The setting is a 1990s college dorm: nine young women meet to play Twister and beer pong, to catch up with their friends, and to dance to some banging tunes.
Although tracks are played in (with a soundtrack ranging from Alanis Morissette to Barenaked Ladies and Blink-182, by way of Nirvana), the music is supplemented with onstage drums and guitar, giving that extra punch that really helps live dance performance. The group responds to each new track, dancing in pairs, threes or larger groups. Each individual gets a chance to shine. The handwritten cue cards return, introducing each dancer by name, alongside a description of how their character’s life is about to change.
This dorm party may be like so many, but for each dancer, it is the cusp of some transformative moment. One partygoer will find out they are pregnant. Another is about to dump their partner; yet another is moving away. In the main, the dance they perform seems more inspired by the song they are dancing to than these nuggets of information, but it undercoats what generally feels like a night of carefree celebration with something slightly darker. Occasional moments come through in director Christie Lee Manning’s choreography, but any hints at wilder temperament are pulled back in by the group’s emotional support of one another.
As the evening progresses, one or two standout routines begin to emerge. Clair Gleave infuses her character’s solo piece – in a night of transformations, her character is about to land her dream job – with enough joyful energy to power the National Grid, forming the most memorable sequence of the night. In sharp contrast, this is followed by Tatiana Ivanova, who is about to get married but whose angry tears create a scene of devastating emotional openness. It is this moment that perhaps offers the best illustration of how Meisner and dance performance work well together.
Throughout, the women take the opportunity of the Cockpit Theatre’s banked seating to interact with the audience, even pulling one man onstage to dress up and lip-sync while being given a temporary tattoo. This is not “sort of a dance piece”; it is a dance piece that is also “sort of” a community party. With its combination of killer tunes, emotional choreography and genuine, open-hearted warmth, it is also one of the best dance performances of the year.
Runs until 14 June 2026
