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What a pleasure to see two such amazingly impressive dancers, Laura Rodriguez and Carlos Acosta, performing these nine varied and exciting dances. Carlos Acosta created "On Before" to pay homage to his beloved mother who had died some years before and explores love, life and relationships. The pieces are collaborations with the likes of Will Tuckett, Miguel Altunaga, Yury Yanowsky, Russell Maliphant, Kim Brandstrup, Estudio 50, George Cespedes and Zenaida Yanowsky.
With music as varied as Handle and John Adams and highly inventive lighting, the show excites at every moment. The finale with a choir picked from local choral groups and conducted by Andrea Brown, is very moving - in fact the choir provide assistance throughout, moving us (silently) between scenes with great discipline.
A slow-motion film sequence, projected across the stage forms one of the pieces and felt, for me, out of synch with the rest of the show. Enjoyable in itself it didn't absorb me the way the live dancing did.
But strip away the staging, the choir, the lighting and projection and what you are left remembering is two fluid bodies and amazing physical story telling. Dancing both together and individually we are treated to some truly beautiful visual images - Laura Rodriguez's solo pieces I found particularly memorable.
A fabulous evening of dance
