The “What Dance Can Do” conference held at Chichester University 24th -25th May was supported by EncoreEast. We were partners in the conference which also included “Pushing Boundaries,” a venture led by the renowned choreographer Galit Liss. The conference brought together many aspects of what dancing means for the older dancer. There was a sharing of films, talks and performances by many different groups. EncoreEast performed a new piece that will become part of our repertoire.  

The company was fortunate to work again with Hannah Rudd who choreographed a skilful, sensitive and sublime piece. Amid the chaos of our world, the dance brought five minutes of calm and peace. A joy.  

The beauty of the dance was informed through “Rapture”, a piece composed by Anohni, a member of the Blacklips Performance Cult, a group who emerged in the early 1990’s as a response to the devastation of the Aids crisis in New York. It is a highly emotive piece. 

 Hannah’s elegant, extended and expressive phrases created a powerful image of serenity on stage that engaged with the sensibilities of the music. Her choreography relied on the strength of the lyrics to develop our dance and set phrases, for example: 

All the blue from me and you 
Down in silence to the ground 
Tear drops 
I’m talkin’ ’bout your tear drops 

EncoreEast perform: 

Beginning with spoken word the music fades in and the movement starts. The ensemble, clustered stage left, facing backwards picking up teardrops. From here on they stay on stage. Words become the cue for movement dynamics. Dancers move across the stage using the choreography of lyrical, fluid phrases – their repetition carefully embroidered through the whole dance. The changing structures encompass the floor, creating circles, merging groups and horizontal lines: movement continuously flows. Finally, the dancers move gently to the floor, or off stage – the piece ends.  

It was beautiful to dance.  

Many audience members found it beautiful, some moved to tears.