Diverse dancers, different movements

They treat dance like a work of art: something which is open for interpretation. They also treat dance as a democratic form: something that is not restricted to physical abilities of a person.

These are the tenets of Candoco Dance Company that works with abled and non-disabled dancers and believes in producing diverse range of dancers by playing on their strengths. The group is touring India and recently performed in the capital on the act ‘Studies with C’ that took inspiration from Tennessee Williams’ play Camino Real and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

The performance depicted a couple trapped in a stagnating relationship, unable to escape the domestic world they inhabit because their reliance on each other has become so strong. This show was composed by award-winning choreographer Javier de Frutos. As Marianne Dicker, programme and touring producer, pointed out that the dance company believes in inviting different choreographers to highlight strengths of seven-membergroup.

“We invite a diverse range of different dancers as we always look at how they will create different movements. People having different bodies’ plays to our strength because it is a great way of creating something new,” Dicker told Metrolife.

“In a way we are democratising these performances and allow choreographers to find different way to bring out the best in them,” she added. According to Dicker, many choreographers have a tendency to delve deep into autobiographical details of an act or look at it aesthetically, but she emphasises that a performance should be open for interpretation. “It is extremely important that dance shouldn’t be interpreted in any one way. As you watch these dancers interact and connect at several reference points, we want them to let go of any expectation.”

The group chooses a variety of approaches to choreography so that the works remain fresh, bold and unexpected. On their website they have clearly mentioned that they “want to present choreographers who question their own practice and engage with pushing the boundaries of the art form and how it is presented on stage”.

“We are interested in exploring new dance forms and different dimensions of dance and this comes when we have different choreographers employing different techniques,” she says.