Friday 9th June 2023 saw my return to the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts or LIPA to see another of their student’s Dance Shows. This time out it was the second year students performing something called ‘Calamity’. Going in to this I knew nothing about Calamity or what it’s storyline would be. Dance is by it’s very nature a freeform artform. I think it’s very much up to the individual to take from a performance the interpretation that they will. It’s all very well me telling you that the story is about X but what you might get out of it is something completely different.
Calamity was very much open to this I felt. We took our seats in the small venue that is the Paul McCartney Auditorium, this time on the right side of the audience, on row L, first three seats from the left for me and my guests. These were far better seats than we had the first time we went to this venue. The main block of Stalls seats in this venue are comfortable, but the rows are not raked away from the stage, so you are very much at the will of anyone who sits in front of you. The seats starting in row L and the three behind are all raised up on a platform, so instantly you’re view is elevated and you can see over the top of people’s heads. I tried to get as close to the centre as possible with these tickets too, we were all very happy with the massive amount of leg-room too.
The venue is a nice one for sure, but it is small. The stage is not at all very big for the sheer number of dance students who are at times on the stage all at the same time. So personal space between the dancers if they needed to dance together on stage is almost non-existent. It must be something that you learn to get used to and to adapt to. I do wish there was more going on at more venues in Liverpool in terms of contemporary and modern dance, but there simply isn’t for some reason. I know there’s an audience for it, but I guess nobody has gone ahead and created a dedicated space for such as yet.
When we entered the venue around 7:20pm the stage was already occupied by some of the cast of the show. This was.. something different. Rather than the show starting from a black fade up, when it was time for the show to start, the house-lights simply dimmed and the action flowed from there. The style and movement of Calamity could be described as smooth and flowing. It wasn’t as frenetic as I expected from second year dancers. It was extremely controlled and just as professional as the third years that we’ve been to see before. The set was dominated by a walled backdrop which was made of what looked like corrugated metal and stone with a singular opening in the middle. There were a couple of flies used above and in front of this rear-wall and then the only on-stage props were a couple of crates that the dancers either moved around or walked upon at one time or another.
But the students made good use of the available space and as the third year’s did with their show (Rebooted, February 2023), the dancers also made use of the floor-space at the sides of the stage and the front-row also. They knew exactly where to be on the stage at any given time and aside from the large full-cast ensemble moments, most of the pieces within the dance were performed within smaller groups of dancers on the stage at the same time. There were some standout performers too at year two, one of whom I would have said was Mia Nazir and perhaps also one or two others. Mia is definitely one-to-watch for the future, both at LIPA and within the industry. (Unfortunately, we seem to have mis-placed the programme from the show with everybody’s names and details on, and I cannot as yet see any reviews for the show online).
Calamity was an exploration of humanity’s resilience through imagining how it might cope with a disaster of epic proportions. – In this case, a Tsunami. “A contemporary piece of narrative dance that takes the audience on a journey of destruction to devastation, through recovery and hope”. The piece was said to be “fast paced and dynamic”, and a “love-letter to humanity’s spirit and persistence in the face of adversity”. The narrative storyline was I felt well represented and interpreted by the Dramaturg and then transformed into movement by the Choreographers and dancers, but in an extremely abstract way that left a lot of the ‘details’ of the storyline open to your own interpretation. – I think this was the right choice for the piece in question. I feel had it have had a more structured story then its soundscape wouldn’t have provided the right kind of setting for anything other than its flowing style. There was some very well chosen and performed music in the piece and the choreography went nicely along with it rather than battling the movement as often witnessed elsewhere.
I would go back and see the second year’s perform again, and will hopefully get the chance to do so when they turn into third year students if not before. They all did a stunning job and should be proud of their achievements so far. I look forward to the next event I attend at LIPA.
