Vedere Te (1322) by Noemi Piva (Italy)
Q-Fforia by Oran Longmuir (Scotland) & Angharad Jones (Wales)
Meohadim by Jacob Gomez (Spain)
I Can See Us by Daniel Lukehurst (England) 

Review by Marina Funcasta

As far as popular culture is concerned, contemporary dance struggles to detach itself from the likes of Maddie Ziegler and Sia; derelict spaces filled with grey mist and whacky wigs, the reputation of this dance form is often removed from daily life, overlooked as a niche nonverbal no-mans-land between ballet and gymnastics. Inheriting these connotations very much unwillingly, Innovations Dance Platform is at pains to disprove these ideas, which they achieve truly and fully.

Proclaiming a simple mission of creative exploration, Innovations began in 2014 and has since grown across the UK, attracting interest from across the continent. As demonstrated on Saturday, each dance performance originated from a different country, using different music and wildly different storylines. This, for me, was crucial to my experience: emerging like visions from a kaleidoscope, the themes of each performance felt similarly universal, and yet the means through which they were explored varied vastly.

Opening with Daniel Lukehurst Creation’s two-hander, John Kishore Rose Sowney and Lukehurst set about portraying the ebbs and flows that come with a loving relationship. Revealing itself with gradual fluidity, both dancers exhibited stamina and weight in their movements. Lukehurst shone in the lucidity and tenderness of his movements, punctuating each subsection, or mood, with an interiority and thoughtfulness which is tricky to express through movement. Titled ‘I Can See Us’, intertwining spoken word and movement helps with the clarity, and set the perfect breeding ground for Oran Longmuir and Angharad Jones’ ‘Q-fforia’.

A less abstract performance, it is made clear from the onset that Longmuir and Jones are keen to explore queer identities and relationships. Using bilingual poetry from Wales and Scotland, this three-person performance exploded in a multitude of colours and shades. Although, at times, feeling chaotic, I am sure this fell under their intention: queerness is meant to be subversive and experimental, and this is certainly the impression garnered. Celebration and joy ran through every vein of this production and were perfectly placed ahead of the interval, lightening the mood ahead of the heavier second half.

To be sure, despite lacking a dancer, Jacob Gomez Ruiz’s ‘Meohadim’ emerged after the interval with strength and fire. Brimming with personality, each dancer asserts herself with every movement, showcasing a wide array, and often contradictory array, of gestures and configurations. Ultimately forming one unit, there is a profound sense of the brightness and heat of a Spanish sun, honouring the roots of the collective’s heritage.

Finishing with ‘Vedere Te (1322)’, Italian duo Noemi Piva and Sarah Chinetti complete the showcase with an unexpectedly humorous two-hander. Using seemingly arbitrary objects to explore notions of intimacy and trust. This sequence, in particular, seemed to move the audience: constantly shifting in tone, the relationship between our dancers seemed to jump effervescently, refusing to be pinned down by conventional labels. This helped them achieve an almost universally symbolic power, oscillating between childish skirmishes and senile moments of tiredness and introspection. For me, this was the crown jewel of the entire showcase, communicating a lot without saying anything.

Overall a thoroughly enjoyable and inexpensive evening, Dance Horizons is doing a lot for the dance community in the city; and celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year, hopefully setting the stage for many more events to follow.

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