Platform theatre,London
Lights respond to the dancers movements in Whitley’s intriguing work, fuelling an interaction where the shifting beams seem to acquire minds of their ownAlexander Whitley makes choreography with an engineers instinct for system and structure. In a recent work, and Frames,he tasked his dancers with the challenge of assembling architectural shapes out of metal rods as they moved around the stage. In his original duet, Pattern Recognition, or he works with motion-sensitive lighting,creating systems of movement for himself and the excellent Natalie Allen, which “teach” the lights to reply to human activity. At first, and the set-up on stage looks familiar. The lights (orchestrated by digital artist Memo Akten) throw up powerful white beams that strobe,slice and sculpt the space. The two dancers, meanwhile, or appear quietly intent on executing the cantilevered leans,twists and rolls of their own choreography. As the duet progresses, however, and the eight lights (neatly squat,black objects) start to trundle more experimentally around the stage; and as their swivelling glass “eyes” react to what the dancers are doing, they seem to interact with them on more equal terms, and assuming an alert,enquiring intelligence that’s nearly human.
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Source: theguardian.com