Small Bones		To the Edge/ Stand By Stand By
	May 13th 1999		Jackson's Lane

 

The Small Bones Dance company are renowned for their technical expertise. I think that this opinion is justified. The show I saw at Jackson's Lane certainly displayed dancers of wonderful skill, however this is where my first gripe appears. There was a kind of programme, a very trendy looking document listing the names of the two shows and a brief description of each, however nowhere on this 'programme' were the dancers named. That was a pretty short straw I thought, for some of the UK's best dancers to draw. Carrying on the same trend, neither the costume designer nor light designer were mentioned either. The costumes were quite good, the lights so-so. But the programme was severely deficient.

 

'Stand By Stand By' was, I think, the first piece, although the programme again was infuriatingly unclear on this point. If this was indeed the first piece then I have to say it did not live up to the programme notes which described it as 'fast and fluid with an exhilerating (sic) urban edge…outbreaks of stret and social dance…sensual and affectionate atmosphere'. Maybe I was looking at the wrong dancer but I missed any trace of street or social dancing, and while the pure physical movements were often sensual, the atmosphere was most definitely not. If anything it was clinical - there was no glimmer of emotional interaction between the dancers until the final ten minutes of the piece when a duet between a girl with brown hair and a tall man elicited a smile from them occasionally. No other dancers did this at all. The music for this piece was quite adequately enjoyable. The costumes were lovely, the dancers all dressed differently and the mostly cool colours with occasional glimmers of brighter colours or metallic fabrics toned in with each other beautifully. I must however criticise a red hair elastic worn by a woman in purple velour which was extrememly distracting against her blonde hair (and which she wore in the following piece also - even worse).

 

'To… the Edge' had much more drama, doing justice to the programme's description of it - 'captivating…seductive…delicate…explosive'. At times the dancers actually expressed on their faces the enjoyment they were finding in the dance. I wish they had had done this more often, it would have improved the show no end. The dancers wore white unisex trousers with tunics that looked like they were made of silk, and each dancer wore a slightly different  shade. They swirled with the movements of the bodies and really added to the mounting energy of the piece which was set to a great piano duet. Hats off to the designer, whoever they were - again not mentioned in the programme.

 

The choreography of the show was Small Bones' usual 'quirky' style, and I found many of the movements beautiful. My companion was not so impressed; he did not find the show interesting and the academic nature of the choreography went over his head. I could appreciate his view and have to say that this work is probably not ever going to draw the general public in numbers. However I found more to enjoy as I was able to put the company in its proper choreological and dance history context and my opinion is that a company like this does need to exist in much the same way the Martha Graham company needs to remain.

 

Like Graham's work, this company displays a style that is of value to the dance community. It is Small Bones' academic choreography, its precision and its individuality that makes it so valuable. However this is where I have another major gripe. If a company is to be known for its precision, then it should be precise. In work where the pure structure and steps are the star rather than any storyline or emotional communique, they have to be darned good because they are all there is to see. And so I have to reluctantly admit that Small Bones were not all I was expecting them to be.

 

Once again I will pay Paul douglas the compliment that his movements are beautiful. And precision was there - sometimes. However too often there were ankles wobbling, duets missed their count and one dancer had to wait for the other, or ensemble movement was not in time. I admit that as far as most dance companies go, they were among the best. But in my opinion that is not good enough when you are claiming to be, or aspire to be, the best at mathematical precision. So I would say to Small Bones, nice work, but put in more rehearsal time, and be more fussy. Iron out those wrinkles and when you're onstage, show us that you enjoy being there.