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Picture: Drew Tommons Freefall@21 Birmingham Royal Ballet Birmingham Hippodrome ***** Under first Sir Peter Wright and then Sir
David Bintley, Birmingham Royal Ballet has achieved many great things
since it arrived in the city in 1990, and, no doubt, under director
Carlos Acosta it will go on to achieve many more, but among its greatest
achievements will always be the creation of Freefall. As theatre critics we see the whole range of
theatre when the curtain rises . . . theatre of the absurd, kitchen sink
drama, comedy, farce, modern dance, traditional ballet, opera, on and on
. . . and then there is Freefall, a company that has created a genre
unique to itself - the theatre of joy. I defy any company anywhere in the world to show
more passion, enthusiasm, committment, endeavour, enjoyment and sheer
happiness and joy than Freefall. And it is infectious, you always leave a
performance with a smile and healthy dose of feelgood. The company is celebrating its 21st anniversary
this week, and it all started with a modest partnership between BRB and
Fox Hollies Special School which created an inclusive community
programme with the simple mantra that dance is for everyone.
The driving force was Lee Fisher, a BRB soloist
and now BRB’s Head of Creative Learning – and Freefall’s artistic
director – he helped start a simple programme to involve youngsters with
severe learning difficulties in dance. What was little more than an idea
has grown into a fully fledged dance company. The start was a project based on Sir David
Bintley’s Still Life at The Penguin Café, so the gala evening
opened with a nod to Freefall’s origins with Still Life at the
Freefall Café, with commissioned music from Richard Syner and video
backdrops from Keith Youngston. It also brought in the now extended family of
Freefall and its community groups from Hazel Oak School Sixth Form in
Shirley, Reddi Support in Redditch. All Saints Inclusion Group. Kings
Heath, Uffculme School Sixth Form, Moseley, and the mother lode of
Freefall, Fox Hollies School.
Like Bintley’s original piece the dance sets
scenes but instead of animal costumes helping to tell the story, the
Freefall version relies on dance alone, with scenes of holidays and
adventure which takes us through Ocean, Woodland, Wetland, Meadow and
Rivers with a final view of the world we all live in seen from space. The dances were all different, involving more
than 60 dancers and brought a standing ovation. The second piece was Chairs, which was a
revelation. I remember seeing the original back in 2013 when it
was a shortish imaginative piece, but 10 years on it has grown into a
Freefall standard, with its nine dancers setting a host of scenes with
drama and comedy, including a game of musical chairs. The music, arranged by musical director Syner
again, gives us jazz, tango, a Parisian boulevard, a touch of balilaika,
a German march, and even a Third Man zither with a touch of The
Mikado thrown in for good measure, all encouraging a matching
variety of dance styles. Like Freefall itself, Chairs has grown, developed
and expanded, become more sophisticated and confident, yet it has kept
all the charm. passion and humour that made it such a hit back in 2013. With Freefall all the ideas, the yardsticks, the
age old tools of reviewing just float away in a sea of pure joy and
inspiration. The idea was dance is for everyone. It has proved that in
spades, so perhaps now it should be added that if you believe, then
anything is possible. Roger Clarke 14-11-23 |
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