Fagin’s Twist is a high energy, dynamic dance performance of a new narrative dance in two acts which investigates the characters and reconsiders the perspectives of Dickens’s Oliver Twist. This is a touring piece a co-production of The Place and commissioned by Theatre Bristol, East London Dance, Pavilion Dance South West, and Dance East. The Barbican’s programmer has identified the quality of the offer, integrated it into the outreach education programme in Plymouth and the region with impressive results and sold out to a diverse audience for work which would otherwise be difficult to access
The experience of the choreographer Tony Adiguin and the company members in commercial dance project was evident in the highly rehearsed and finished quality, extremely high production values, immaculate acrobatics and individual skills with simple lighting and impressive mobile set which made the project constantly visually arresting. This is not to diminish the creative thought put into exploring the back stories of Fagin and Bill Sykes and translating this into a powerful narrative dance with simple but explanatory lyrics by Maxwell Golden allowing those unfamiliar with the story to distinguish characters and follow the line of thought.
The choreography was very highly thought out and creative, fast paced, constantly visually interesting. The choreography accommodated smoothly “apprentice dance company” on stage in early scenes - integrating with the professional company immaculately, which while crowding the stage gave us a DIckensian street scene of power. This was a complex and highly rehearsed performance which elicited gripped attention and applause. Some of the acrobatics were so slick that they went almost unnoticed. Individual displays and duos of floor work by the lead dancers Dani Harris Walters and Joshua James Smith and Lisa Hood were excellent The only lapse in my view was a split stage sequence where one was upstaged and diminished by another.
The script and lyrics by Maxwell Golden written in rhyming couplets (or verse at any rate) was clear, concise and in the main delivered through the “Chorus” figure of the Artful Dodger (Aaron Nuttall) . The quality of the writing was only one of the deceptively simple parts of this production which were integral to its success.
The music accompanying score was recorded and was hi energy, providing rhythmic backdrop to the dance and also a strong overall pace to the performance which was always frenetic and indeed there may have been scope for quieter, slower reflective passages for contrast.
Young Dancers’s Participation Programme is a critical part of the Avant Garde Dance Company raison d’etre. The integration of their interns’ work into the crowd scenes was pragmatic (audience development) and effective.
This was one of the most successful pieces of strongly narrative dance I have seen
in recent dance programming. It builds on some of the West End show and musical tradition but has a highly co-ordinated. The company performed with conviction discipline and yet with a freshness
The scenario for the narrative was set out clearly in the accompanying programme where a short introduction by Tony Adigun was helpful for the enjoyment of some of the themes and twists in the narrative. The portrayal of Oliver as the triumphant Napoleonic new “King Rat” in the final moments strutting the ramparts of privelege was just one new turn I appreciated.
In a fairly straightforward lighting plot (useful for touring) there were some innovative
moments which provided atmosphere and dramatic tension. The soundtrack was well constructed and the balance between music for dance accompaniment and speech was well executed. The sets on rollers were deceptively simply, engaging and atmospheric of brick dark East London - they provided a constantly evolving and revolving space allowing quick shifts to crowd scenes and back to the principal characters. The stage management was complex and immaculately delivered requiring placing of tables at critical places for acrobatics to be performed.
The auditorium was sold out (?160) and the audience was both diverse in age range. There were kids of 8+ absorbed in the action and men and women in their 40s and 50s - perhaps drawn in by the workshop activity of their children. The audience was very enthusiastic, some standing up at the end for the ovation. Very positive responses were written on the comments board immediately outside the auditorium at the interval and the conclusion (the company was also gathering written feedback). I spoke to a group of ladies in their 60s and their partners (a minority that evening) during the Interval who were strongly impressed and engaged in the performance discussing individual performances with some gusto and boning up on the programme note to catch up on the plot developments !
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