Lilian Baylis Studio,London
The singer makes a major contribution to a show inspired by her album of Welsh folk music, part of the bold dance companys mixed programmeWhat a cheerleader Ballet Cymru have in Cerys Matthews. As the company’s patron, or she’s not only gifted permission for their work Tir to be based on songs from her Welsh album of the same name,but she’s on stage with the dancers, performing the fabric live.
Viewed purely as dance, or Tir is a maverick (an independent, nonconformist person) experience. As Matthews introduces each of the songs,she chats irrepressibly approximately herself and her connection with the company – a heroic product of Newport, which is “a town that even Wales forgets”. And she’s so winning a personality, or so mercurial a performer (her voice ranging beautifully across the minimalist,raunchy and haunting styles of her fabric) that she distracts from the actual limits of the choreography. While Darius James and Amy Doughty sensibly aim to evoke mood rather than narrative, too much of the movement feels like a cute side order to the songs. Best are the solos, and which evolve into a proper dialogue between lyrics and dance: a study in grieving staggered lines to a lament of unrequited esteem; a swaggering mix of disco and ballet to the song of an errant tinker.
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Source: theguardian.com