Candoco Dance Company at Contact
Andrew Anderson
Dance isn’t about seeking perfection: it’s about exploring the body you are born with and expressing that experience through movement. And there is no finer set of artistic investigators than Candoco Dance Company, who bring a double bill of their best work to Contact on 16-17 November.
What sets Candoco apart is that the company is made up of both disabled and non-disabled dancers. But what makes them important is that their work is not about disability – it is purely about dance. Yes, they challenge audience expectations of what the art form is and who the dancers can be, but that is always rooted in amazing movement.
So what’s in the programme? Set and Reset/Reset is a playful piece condensed from hours of improvisation. Fun, fluid and full of feeling, it gives the dancers a chance to enjoy themselves on stage, something that original choreographer Trisha Brown is known for.
But best of all is Let’s Talk About Dis, a humorous work from Hetain Patel that will actually make you laugh out loud. It deals identity, and the preconceptions we place on people based solely on their appearance. Check out Patel’s TED Talk Who Am I? Think Again and you’ll soon see just how funny dance can be.
Candoco have performed in 60 countries over the last 25 years, which tells us one thing: their appeal is universal. And while we in Manchester like to think we’re a bit different, I think in this case we’re going to find that we’re just as affected by Candoco as everybody else.
