The Youth Dance companies of Wales and Scotland partner up in this double bill of contemporary dance to showcase their talented performers, and a very impressive job they did too, in front of a full house.
It’s a show of contrasting light and shade. First up, National Youth Dance Wales are a company of 6 dancers, in a striking staging of a row of vertical mirrors surrounded by black, with the dancers in black costumes too. The piece is Momentum – Undone, choreographed by Marcus Jarrell Willis, and featuring music by artists as diverse as James Blake, Jacob Collier, Tchaikovsky and Ólafur Arnalds. Initially, the dancers perform largely facing the mirrors, the all-round view emphasising their intensity and control. As the score moves from vocals to classical orchestral and then electronic, the dancing becomes less focused on the mirrors, with graceful pas de deux, balletic leaps and a mounting sense of exhilaration. There’s a nice touch at the end, when the mirrors are manoeuvred to reflect us too.
National Youth Dance Company of Scotland’s contribution is Afterglow, choreographed by Tess Letham. Again, there’s an eclectic score including live vocals, but the visual style could not be more different, with the dancers clad in sequins, party hats and flapper-style fringing, in a palette of black, gold, copper and orange. This is a bigger company so it’s quite a crowded stage, but their movement in rapidly changing patterns and combinations is precise and appears effortless. At this party, dancers flow from segments with synchronised couples (which had a bit of a ballroom feel to the movement) through other freer forms of expression, and as the party wears on, everything becomes looser, the dancers start to smile, and we end with a real sense of the communal joy of movement, despite or perhaps in defiance of the darker undertones suggested by the plaintive singing. Dance in these Celtic nations clearly has a bright future, and these contrasting pieces kept the audience rapt throughout.
Runs until 16 August 2026 | Image: Contributed
