Dance

Oracle Leaves - Portraits of Daphne

Tramway, Glasgow

Mary Brennan

Four stars

Mythic story-tellers, such as Ovid, don’t go into much detail about Daphne, the virginal wood nymph who avoided Apollo’s rapacious advances by becoming a laurel tree. For Colette Sadler, however, the nymph’s own narrative deserves our attention: Oracle Leaves - Portraits of Daphne is how this resolutely radical choreographer delves beneath the surface of mythology to conjure up a sense of what shapes an individual, empowers their decisions (and acts of defiance) and, in often unexpected ways, transforms them.

As ever, with Sadler, there is a rich complexity of ideas that lace together questions about perception - initial assumptions may not be valid! - with issues of self-determination. And even though Oracle Leaves connects into Greek rituals, it is - in staging, music and costuming - a contemporary witness to the timeless aspects of the myth. Upstage, a ‘light sculpture’ is like a portal between then and now, colour-shifting across different moods and events.

Meanwhile, Sadler’s exceptional quartet of performers assume different aspects of Daphne as she emerges from girlhood to adulthood and embraces her fate. All four move, vocalise (across octaves) and deliver text superbly - in the case of Jia-Yu Corti’s monologue that asks ‘why a tree?’ there are glints of mischievous humour but the words tap into a thoughtful awareness of how trees sustain landscape, animals and humankind across eons.

From ‘Daphne as a Young Girl’ - Mickey Mahar’s delicate hand movements and tendrilling arms almost presage future laurel boughs - the piece unfolds through episodes that build Daphne’s identity into a bravura mosaic of possible selves.

It’s superbly imagined, astutely theatrical and thought-provoking - totally in keeping with how Sadler never settles for easy, superficial dance-making. One night at Tramway was a welcome reminder of her restless, questing creativity - it would be good to see her return, soon.