Dance
And Now...
Paisley Arts Centre
Mary Brennan
FOUR STARS
AND Now... sees Frank McConnell’s plan B return to the touring circuit, recent off-road years given over to establishing a permanent full-time company and upgrading their Ross-shire base. Inspiration and ideas weren’t lying dormant, however and the energetic debates over Scottish independence in 2014 followed McConnell and his dancers into the studio: the result is a playful, perceptive and thought-provoking piece that explores identity and aspirations through the learning curves of four gung-ho children.
Make that five – whimsical musician Steve Kettley is also on-stage, overlaying Jim Sutherland’s recorded soundscore with vibrant flute and saxophone textures while adding his own “when I grow up...” ambitions to the general mix.
If, at first, the movement seems a skittish nod in the direction of child’s play – merry fun with the little toys and the variously sized chairs on Miranda Melville’s set – there is a shift in mood and choreography when Kirsty Pollock speaks of a childhood moment, standing on a fore-shore, when time stood still. The words catch at the inner wonderment, the subsequent dance, with Pollock soaring and lithe in duets full of high lifts, is a lyrical echo of that fathomless feeling. Joanne Pirrie and Katie Armstrong share a giggling-girly game of sitting-down tag, jolly fun until Pirrie recoils:the hands-on touching is no longer welcome – growing up has brought sexuality into play.
The lone chap, Glen McCartney, gets to be the bossy boy but his scaling of the one giant chair leads to a solo that tingles with the curiosity, the uncertainty, the risk-taking that goes with stepping out, into your future. McConnell’s heart and craft are in the details here, with his unstinting dancers delivering shed-loads of technique and personality
Tour details at www.planbcreative.org
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here