Review: Fast Portraits, Dance Base

By Kelly Apter
Published on 09/08/2012 13:31

This contemporary dance work from Ireland’s Liz Roche Company may not do what it sets out to, but it is a wholly enjoyable experience watching them try.

Inspired by “observations of the human condition”, five dancers move around the space, creating temporary portraits. Images akin to family snapshots, accidents and tragedies, and occasionally tableaux taken from the works of 16th-century Italian artist Caravaggio (another inspiration for the piece) are built, then melt away.

Meanwhile, at the back of the stage, a screen depicts the same dancers doing much the same thing. Only this time, it’s in slow motion. It’s as if life has been taken down a much-needed notch, and we can explore the view (except if you do, you miss the on-stage action).

The movement itself has a thoughtful purity, and the five dancers meld together as one with ease. Any emotional connection to the complexities of the human condition felt strangely absent, however. But then with something as personal as this, such connections are really in the eye of the beholder.

Until 12 August. Today 3pm.