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Ace Dance and Music exploring life in many forms in Mana Pictures: Brian Slater and Danilo Moroni Mana: The Power Within
The Patrick Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome
**** ACE Dance and
Music have used the influence of African and Caribbean dance to fuel
Mana: The Power
Within. In this energetic show topped with high energy
and beautiful movement, Mana presents an interpretive story and lets the
audience understand their cultural translation in a powerful
performance. Mana stands for the life that is shown within all
inanimate objects and is a word that is used in Twenty-four languages.
With Ace’s cultural influence and artistic flair, we are exposed to an
atmosphere that lets us interpret the inner life inside all things
around us. Their performance
consists of two separate pieces, separated with an interval. The first
is A Thousand Shepherds
which explores the spiritual journey of looking into and beyond the
essence of who we are and those around us. Within this piece of explosive dance with its
slick and episodic movements from each performer there is also an
awesome display of choral harmony. The company is made up of six dancers and Iona
Waite, Sophia Preidel, Jerome Wilks, Tom Tindall, Tiffany Bell give a
fierce performance of accuracy and pure energy.
Ace’s African influences are clearly seen
throughout, as well as flamenco roots that are cleverly woven into the
piece. The eerie and almost slow moving start creates an enticing
atmosphere, with a surrounding of smoke and a backdrop of white light to
enhance the senses. The sounds that complement their movements are
tribal and enticing. The dance is elegantly in sync and with its
intensely powerful movements from the company, the cultural reflection
is heightened. The performers move as one, but yet there is also
an individuality. They represent a culture and a group of beings as
opposed to just one person. Sudden changes in music and movement give
way to awesome sequences which seem to tell a series of different
stories within the one piece. Its is a powerful performance, with
high energy and a fantastic display of emotion and influence. Their second piece is
called simply Mana.
As with A Thousand Shepherds,
their African spirit is still as present and alluring.
Mana however
is set in an ancient time and alludes to Sharman traditions of dance.
It is incredibly spiritual and gives way to an
ambience that has an earthly root and tribal atmosphere. Costumes show a
tribal background and bamboo sticks used as props to create a wall for
the audience to look through as the dancers perform behind it. The movement and music in this piece complement
each other in a beautifully exotic way. The engaging dancers made sure
that each move was as slick as the last and not a move out of place. It
created an incredible portrayal of a world full of culture and energy. The journey is fantastically interpreted which
makes this engaging piece all the more powerful. The hot land that this
piece shows us is definitely felt by the entirety of the audience. Ace dance are an explosive Birmingham based
company. They force the audience to share in their high-energised
stories of passion and brightness. Within both pieces, we are compelled
to the dancer’s strong presence and watch as they present us with a
fantastic display fuelled by culture. Celebrating life, dance and the
beautiful human body, Ace dance are thoroughly entertaining, culturally
inspired and interestingly mesmerising. Elizabeth Halpin
01-10-15 Further dates 8th Oct 2015, Strike a Light Festival, Gloucester
Tel: 01452 503050 15th Oct 2015, Déda, Derby Tel: 01332 370 911
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They
are lead beautifully by Yukiko Masul who has the audience in awe of her
wonderful sense of movement of the body.