On Monday 20th March 2023 I found myself yet again in Manchester at The Lowry to see another Dance performance… This one I had much higher hopes for than the last, and right up front… This one did not disappoint. So let’s backtrack the travel and build up to this one first, and perhaps get the bad points out of the way firstly this time. For some reason I’d booked an earlier train than usual for this performance, which meant I was in Manchester for 5pm. Just three hours early for the performance. – At least I wasn’t late. The train journey there was pretty much plane sailing, with a few platform alterations thrown in for good measure. The train left on time and arrived into Deansgate just in time to make a tram over to MediaCityUK. The rain also decided to let itself go at this point, so as I was early I stayed on the tram for a little while longer and got to see another little bit of Manchester (which I won’t bother with again). Nothing wrong with it per-say.. just nothing there.
I headed back to MediaCityUK as the rain was easing a little and headed for the Lowry shopping center. It was around 18:30 at this point… and the shopping center was closed or closing. Great. Found a Costa and thought about sitting in there for a while, but they were chucking people out when I arrived, so I didn’t bother. Instead I took myself to the Bella Italia restaurant and sat down to a bowl of Pasta.. Nothing like going out then eating something you’d eat at home.. But it was nice. The food was good and the service was great. I decided to have a pint with my dinner but instantly regretted it for being quite flat. Ah well, never mind.
I wasted as much time as I could nursing that pint and enjoying the food till about 19:40 when I started to make my way over to The Lowry. I arrived and took a seat at the bar for a few minuted before the house opened. There was no physical programme again which was a little disappointing, but there was a digital version. It was pretty much what can be found on the websites, so I didn’t bother. The house opened and I headed down and took my seat. N6. Leg room – Check. Good view – Check. The house wasn’t full for the performance, which was a bit of a shame for the visiting company, but they honestly didn’t seem to mind all that much.
Sitting next to me on the right I had a young couple who’d been gifted free tickets to see the show by a family member. When they came in they sat down and immediately started moaning that they had people sitting right next to them, that they had no space to spread out. The guy started up a conversation with a woman on the right side of them, but not a word or glance came in my direction, and in the end I was glad because they were annoying and rude throughout the performance. Their first reaction to movement on the stage was to laugh audibly. They were laughing at the movement from one of the professionals on the stage. Throughout you could hear them giggling and chatting away, but thankfully the music was turned up to eleven this evening, so most of the time their annoying mannerisms were drowned out. They openly talked about the venue not being full and if they should get up and move to other seats so they could ‘spread out’. At the end of the performance, the guy made a comment of ‘oh thank god that’s over with’ or words to that effect. They left swiftly. Needless to say, I don’t think they’ll be punching their dance card again any time soon. Thankfully for the rest of the audience. In terms of the coughing orchestra tonight.. they seemed fairly well behaved. But of course when one starts, others can’t resist the urge to join in. I think we managed the first minute or so without a cough. Which was good, as after an initial burst of music, the first few minutes were danced in silence.
The performance started on time at 20:00 as expected, but with a short speech given by Steve Cowton who is Head of Theatre Ops at The Lowry. He talked about his love of blending Dance with Circus Performance and how he’s been at the forefront of bringing in companies to perform such performances for the 17 years he’s been at The Lowry, and how he was first in contact with the Company of the Night many years ago, well before CoVID-19 Lockdown and all the hell that followed it, but finally he had managed to get this company over to start what would be their first UK tour at The Lowry. The microphone was then handed over to a representative from the company named Tim Behren [I hope I have these names right] who was the director and choreographer of tonight’s performance. Tim Behren, together with (former) co-founder Florian Patschovsky took this intense acrobatic routine and molded it into a dance performed by five naturally talented dancers & acrobats.
Overhead Project stands for performances between contemporary circus and dance – two languages that allow different perspectives on the human body and a multidimensional approach to space and architecture.
There isn’t really a better way to put it in my opinion, the merging of perspectives between contemporary circus and dance. A prefect interplay of words as the dance did so effortlessly go together with the acrobatic movement and together with the soundtrack, which clearly wasn’t to everybody’s taste was sharp and shocking in places while being melodic and smooth elsewhere. I’d have liked to have seen if the soundtrack is available anywhere online to listen to it again, but alas I didn’t get that far tonight. But what I did do on the way out was I made a point of walking past the guy who was on the stage at the beginning and told him that what he had created was amazing. He was so calm and down to earth, I am glad I got to spend a few moments with him before the rest of the audience swamped him as he exited the house. I would have loved to have found out about the previous two parts of this trilogy of dances, as this was the final part of the trilogy. I wonder if they are available to watch online, there’s another one for the research folder.
The performance was in places soft and sensual, sometimes intimate, energetic with lots of lifts and throws with heads inches away from the floor. Rhythmic and most of all exhilarating to experience. There was a point in the performance where the dancers / artists on the stage removed parts of their clothing, so both male and female performers were dancing and moving around topless. The effortless way in which they transitioned to this part of the dance was superb. It made it less of a spectacle and more just another perspective from which to draw your own conclusions as to what the dance and performance meant to the individual. There was one point where, as shown in the images below, the performers were carrying each other in an inverted manor which was mindbogglingly skillful. The general fitness of this company of dancers was simply outstanding.
© Photographs are Copyright of all original artists, sourced from https://overhead-project.de/en/productions/what-is-left/
The performance still has UK tour dates that can be booked, two in Bristol and two in London, and if you can I really would recommend going to see this one. You’ll be blown away by the juxtaposition of dance and circus arts in this gem. The company is based in Cologne, Germany and they are well known for hosting “CircusDanceFestival” a festival of this style of dance collaboration that runs each year. This year they are running this festival in May, from the 25th to the 29th 2023. – Perhaps this is something which can get me to leave the UK…? We will have to investigate the possibilities.
