Dance-Forms 76th International Choreographers’ Showcase. 
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My Accidental Departure

Posted on August 7, 2019 by yodamo

 

I have recently observed the majesty of human movement’s capabilities. My Accidental Departure, by Susana B. Williams, was one of an excellent series given at the Dance-Forms 76th International Choreographers’ Showcase. The third one to be precise, following Kelly Schoger’s avant garde ‘Beauty, Identity, Release,‘ & the trident-twirling bodhisattva that was Shoko Tamai’s ‘Dancing Siva.’

Next to step elegantly onto this most sophisticated of catwalks was Matthew Ball, whose immensely-chiseled body felt like David had just stepped down from his pedestal outside the Palazzo Vecchia. In 2019, Matthew is the Royal Ballet’s principle dancer, & no-one on Earth could question his elevation to such an esteemed position. He is blessed not only with extreme physical prowess, but also the imagination needed to entertain.

Working with Matthew means having the opportunity to present my work at the highest technical level. – Susana B. Williams

My Accidental Departure is a an emotive dance-theatre elegy to Susana’s son, whose life was taken from her by a fatal accident when he was just 36. From grief sometimes comes timeless art – as a poet I rate most highly Shelley’s ‘Adonais’, & Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam,’ – & there is a similar moving outpouring of artistic beauty into My Accidental Departure. The piece is synchronized to Max Richter’s arrangement of Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons: Summer,”‘ with the aching screech of violins wrenching to life Renaissance sketches of Man. The soft, yet powerful heaves of Ball’s movements convoked in me a sense of Prometheus striving for release & straining at his chains on his stormy rock, arms whirling like windmill sails. Half-way through, all goes red & Ball plummets to the ground for some desperately tragic floor-work, like a Dantean shade reaching out for mercy. This is theatre, this is dance, this is art, & I hope Susana has found an element of cathartic release in creating a piece loaded with the aforementioned majesty of human movement.

Damian Beeson Bullen

 

 

 

Working with Matthew means having the opportunity to present my work at the highest technical level. – Susana B. Williams
Read the full interview…