Sauce

Modern contemporary dance is the “emo” of the arts world. This may seem to be an inflammatory statement, but I do not use those words lightly. Like the “emo” sub-culture, modern dance is emotionally driven, visually distinctive and sadly completely incomprehensible to many of us outside of that world. That is not to say it is wrong or flawed or any less valid, simply that it is an acquired taste. 

Masque, the first production by new performance company, Drill, is an eclectic combination of numerous dance numbers, multiple styles and some beautiful singing. The creation of Josh Lowe and Cindy Foster, Masque explores the theme of masks and hidden personas with the incredible energy that only a youth company could muster.

It starts off well enough, with what appears to be the set-up for a narrative that will run through the show, in which characters are defined and relationships established. However these beginnings do not pay off and the following numbers become a series of unrelated thematic explorations in dance and song, sometimes both concurrently. As such I found myself getting confused very quickly and sadly losing interest in proceedings.

Some of the images in the pieces were very evocative but the lack of crispness in aspects of the choreography distracted. The songs chosen also seemed at times to have only the most tenuous of link to the themes explored. This is a company that has enormous potential and I feel that with more experience and some kind of narrative structure they will be capable of good work in the future.

DAVID QUINN