Amid funding difficulties and a warning that this would probably be the last Cloud Dance Festival for a while, Hush offered a strong lineup with a mixture of returning companies and new talent, treating both its audience and performers to the large, centrally-located Cochrane Theatre. Despite Hofesh Shechter performing at Sadlers Wells, and Latitude Festival taking place in Suffolk, there was still a decent-sized audience on the opening night, anxious to watch the evening’s performances.

We were kicked into gear straight away with Antique DancesTernion which was a high-energy piece which broke down the stereotypical gender roles of dancers and saw female and male dancers performing on an equal footing. The performance was physically impressive and very slick, with a stunning solo section for the one male performer.

Sillander & Pascual returned again to Cloud Dance Festival with their piece If Pains Must Come, Let Them Extend To Few. This exploration of the pursuit of happiness and the desperate measures we take to get there was humorous and light in places and rather dark and unsettling in others, leaving the audience to feel that a part of their own lives had been laid bare before them. The dancers were engaging and the choreography refreshing.

The delightful Taciturn welcomed us back from the first interval for some light-hearted entertainment with their first piece If It Can Be Broken, It Can Be Fixed, originally performed in September 2008. They casually introduced each section of the dance, and using spoken words and seamless choreography they lifted the mood and seemed to dance just for the fun of it. The synergy between the dancers is compelling, as is the obvious joy with which they perform.

The I can do this section provided some belly laughs for the audience, and the I want section gave us more giggles but also some strong sentiments of the journey they went through while creating the piece. It ended when one of the dancers proclaimed simply ‘I want to go home’. This is the first of their triple bill for Cloud Dance Festival, as they will be performing another two separate choreographies on Saturday and Sunday.

Choreographer Melody Squire of Sol Dans has yet again produced top-quality work with her new piece Ebuillition. Drawing inspiration from Greek mythology, the dancers worked through powerful emotional journeys and explosive dance.

Pair Dance returned to Cloud Dance Festival with Rush – an explosive and physically demanding reflection of modern commuter chaos. Not for the faint-hearted, the music blasted out at us as the dancers took us on their journeys with them.

Anima Dance Company invited us to their breakfast table with Dual, a piece exploring the little tensions and frustrations in modern relationships that build into huge burdens. The dancers used spoken words throughout, and the powerful, dynamic choreography showed the distances and communication malfunctions that creep in to a relationship. 

Slanjayvah Danza’s Crazy Joanna is an excerpt of a longer work, dealing with domestic abuse and the painful escape from such situations. The full length piece has film projection integrated into the choreography, but this was cut due to time constraints of fitting into a festival. The overall sentiments were not lost, however, and the feelings of guilt that manifest into uncontrolled violence are magnificently portrayed by Amir Giles. The piece is dark, disturbing, yet breathtakingly beautiful in the tender moments.

After the light-hearted performances by Sillander & Pascual and Taciturn, the evening grew in intensity culminating with the two final pieces, both explosive explorations of relationship breakdowns, leaving the audience briefly overwhelmed. Yet as the audience either made their way home or moved upstairs to the bar, a few people could be heard humming the music from Taciturn’s piece. Cloud Dance Festival continues for two more nights.

Reviewed by Debbie Shine for Cloud Dance Festival