I started thinking about wording this review almost immediately after getting on the train after the performance. I even made some notes which I will refer to later. But first let us return to the beginning.

I have been low-key looking forward to this one for a while. First of all it was at The Lowry, which I had previously attempted to attend a performance at. I was unfortunately unsuccessful on that occasion due to a train cancellation. This time I left with more time in hand, and again it was a good job I did as although the bus into town was quite quick for the time of day (after four pm) and the train to Manchester was on time, prompt at leaving and suffered no delays on the way, the story changed significantly when I arrived at the Metro stop for the tram to MediaCityUK (MCUK). The train wasn’t too busy really and was to my surprise a straight-through service, meaning no connections to catch and / or be cancelled. But arriving at the tram stop connected to Deansgate station, I was overwhelmed by the number of people crowding the station. I couldn’t figure out why at first until I read the scrolling message at the bottom of the dot-matrix information display… It was match night and kick off was at seven thirty. No wonder the trams were rammed. I had to let the first two sail by as there was zero room on them. Nobody was getting off, nobody was able to get on, so it wasn’t just me. After the first two came and went in quick succession, I was surprised then to not see another tram to MCUK for a good thirty minutes. But at this point I still had plenty of time to spare. In the end I decided to get on any tram one stop down the line to see if services would be any more frequent there. The overcrowding was rampant at the next stop too, but there was a tram due to my destination in five minutes. I squeezed on and to my suprise the overcrowding was only at the doors… through that hell there were actually seats available, so I got a seat for the twenty minute journey to MCUK.

I arrived at the right stop and disembarked the tram (remembering to swipe out this time) and slowly made my way towards the waterfront opposite The Lowry. Last time I had tried this journey, trams were not running to MCUK and I had no idea how long a walk it would be to the venue. Being able to arrive in daylight too also helped, so now I know if I cannot get a tram directly to MCUK, I just need to keep walking on the road next to the tracks and eventually I will arrive at The Lowry. Last time I had found my way to the waterside, down the site of an office building, and I could see the venue, but with the remaining minutes I had to make it last time, I knew I wouldn’t have been able to do the walk before the show started. – No such issues this time and after pausing to take a Photograph I crossed the bridge and headed into The Lowry with about thirty minutes to spare.

The Lowry itself as a building is massive. The performance this evening was in what is known as the Quay Theatre, this is a smaller venue than The Lyric Theatre, both of which are inside The Lowry Centre. Upon arrival a friendly FOH staff member told me how to get to the Quay Bar which was the only bar open this evening. It seems the Lowry itself does have other bars and places were you can get food, and also is directly opposite the Quay Shopping Centre which houses several eateries and bars too. When I arrived I just wanted a cold drink, so I followed the internal pathway to the Quay Bar. It’s about a five minute walk inside the building to get around to the back where the Quay Theatre and bar is situated and when I arrived there, there was only a handful of people already present. My first stop upon arrival was the toilet. (I’ve been told not to tell people about my toilet trips but you know, it’s all part of the experience. – It was… Uneventful, but clean and spacious. I headed back up to the bar and ordered a glass of Coke with Ice. The sunlight was streaming into the bar so I strategically sat with my back to it so that I could a) not be blinded and b) see how busy it was going to be by facing the entrance. After finishing off my coke way too quickly the house opened and I was able to go and find my way to my seat. I was in the Stalls, so downstairs in this venue, on the left hand side on what was the back row. It was a curved row so my sitting position was on a little bit of an angle but the view in front of me was clear right the way down to the stage. I was in row N so there was thirteen rows in front of me. I have to say, the venue didn’t fill up quite as much as I was expecting, so I had space in front and to my right side too. Below is a photograph I took of the venue before it started to fill up with people.

The Quay Theatre is far smaller than The Lyric Theatre (which is the main venue at The Lowry), yet retains the usual composition of Stalls, First & Second Tiers and I believe standing room on the top floor. As I say the venue wasn’t full and I can only speak for the Stalls and the First Tier, but there were empty seats in both areas. From what I could see, a good view was possible from most if not all places within the theatre. I would describe it as ‘intimate’.

Moving on to the start of the performance. The doors closed and the lights dimmed to blackness more or less right on eight o’clock. The first piece that the Candoco Company performed was “Set and Reset/Reset” which was a flowing and rhythmic modern dance piece that utilised the entirety of the stage without the need for any props or set pieces. There was the simplicity of the background as shown above with a small amount of light from the front of stage. The majority of the piece was lit from stage side lighting that was simple and understated in nature and did nothing to distract from the movements of the performers. The piece was a re-creation of the Tricia Brown Dance Company well known 1983 “Set and Reset”. The score titled “Long Time No See” was written by Laurie Anderson and featured her trademarked ‘audio drag’ recorded voices looping and re-looping in different ways. There is a lot of history between the Tricia Brown Dance Company and The Candoco Dance Company as former Tricia Brown Dance Company member Abigail Yager actually taught The Candoco Dance Company exact sequences from the original, now seminal 1983 classic. What the Candoco Dance Company does is to take the original choreography and make it their own through re-imagining rather than replicating the original piece. The Abigail Yager re-imagining features both disabled and non-disabled performers, more on that later. A lot more has been written far more elegantly than I have done here about Tricia Brown, Laurie Anderson and Abigail Yager and I will leave some links to that below.

After a short interval the curtain closed as a simplistic set was arranged for the second of the two performances tonight. This next piece was called “Last Shelter”. The Curtain opened to reveal an empty set with a backdrop flown at a slanted angle and with old striplights illuminating the stage below. I cannot begin to express exactly how different this second performance was from the first. I am not even sure at this stage of writing that I have fully comprehended what I saw this evening. I joked when I arrived back home that I really wasn’t sure how exactly I got home… But lets backtrack a little…

Dance can be defined as a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement which can be improvised or purposefully selected. These movements can have associated aesthetic or symbolic values. Dance can be categorised by its choreography which can be as simply as a repertoire of movements or other factors. Dance can be considered a form of entertainment. The movement of the body in a rhythmic way to music or other audio cues within a space for the purpose or expressing and idea, emotion, impulse, energy or the simplicity of movement itself. Dance is extremely open to interpretation by the consumer. Dumbing things down significantly, Dance as an expressionistic art form can be enjoyed for its entertainment value, but it can also be so much more. The first performance tonight, I enjoyed watching. I felt as if I was watching a performance happen from a group of skilled dancers. The second piece tonight, I feel like I experienced. I feel as if I was almost in some way, a part of its performance. In layman’s terms, the second performance hit me at a much deeper level than just being entertaining.

The performance of “Last Shelter” was cathartic for me. As the performance approached its climax, I found myself openly tearful. Not to overstate things but I felt moved by this piece. I felt its teetering emotion throughout, it was in places sad yet at the same time uplifting, reflective moving and simply sublime. The choreography by Jeanine Durning is nothing short of a masterpiece. Last Shelter has been described as ‘a performance experiment exploring the enduring human desire to build something together‘. Throughout the piece, you can feel the inner tension encased within the movement building. This has a certain feeling to it which is capable of stirring up an emotional release, which certainly worked on me. Candoco themselves say ‘that the piece unfolds uniquely at each performance‘. The performance is made up of sections were all of the dancers are on stage at the same time, some of them reacting to each other’s movements as they happen, some copying and replicating others and some doing their own thing completely off in a corner. Every inch of the stage was used (and then some) with dancers using side of stage barriers and even the end of the stage itself being incorporated into the performance.

Physically Last Shelter starts with an empty stage on to which the dancers walk across individually. Some of them leave the stage and return with an object. The scene starts extremely quietly with the soundscape growing louder and louder throughout. The dancers bring on chairs, a table, a piece of carpet and a microphone on a stand. At this stage it is not clear if this is part of the dance or if the dancers are simply setting up their set. Soon you realise this is all a part of the choreography, this is all intentional. Everything is placed exactly in the right place on stage. A setup is created with their objects. The dancers throughout the performance spend the whole time re-assembling these objects into different configurations on different parts of the stage, using and interacting with the objects in every-day ways as well as in some unorthodox ways too. The unconventional start and structure throughout offers a thought towards the adaptation we face to ever-changing environments and spaces. The dancers all perform together collectively yet retain their own sequences which somehow show their independence yet work together extremely well. Interjected into the movement are short monologues spoken by each member of the company. At first you are not sure if these monologues are recorded or are being performed live, and as there is a lot going on on the stage at any given time it is not possible for the eyes to catch everything as it happens. I found switching between watching the performance as a whole as well as switching to focus on one dancer who’s movements evoke all of the intended emotions and more. Nevertheless, there is a lot going on on the stage and you simply cannot absorb it all at once.

The monologues may have had some semblance of being scripted at least in terms of their ideas and focus areas but I am sure that for the most part they were improvisations, offering opinions and descriptions of their thoughts and feelings while performing, what they see as performers and what they want to see, want to feel, want to experience. It was simply put.. an honest outpouring of emotion, through movement, through monologues through expressionism and through the constant quest between freedom and connection. By far this has been the most evocative performance I have witnessed so far within this year of experiences. If I ever get the opportunity to see this double bill of performances from the Candoco Dance Company, or indeed any other works from them, I will jump at the chance.

Immediately after the performance, while walking back to the tram stop, I found myself standing once more at the river, looking back at the venue I had just been to, trying to think of the word to describe my experience with the Candoco Company this evening… The best I came up with was, simply put… transcendental.