Cloud Dance Festival | Hush-ReviewsReviewsPage 2

Friday: Susanne Allen

Details: Category: Hush-Reviews; Published: Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:57; Written by Cloud Dance Festival

Cloud Dance Festival opened its doors to Hush last night, its eleventh Festival to date and the first evening of the three night festival commencing Friday 16th July. Staged at the Cochrane Theatre in the central location of Holborn, the festival provided an intimate and friendly location as a platform for both emerging and established innovative and creative choreographers and dancers to perform their work. The evening saw a welcome return of many dance companies to the festival, with an eclectic and diverse night of some seven performances, the first night of the festival did not disappoint!

Saturday: Lesley Perez

Details: Category: Hush-Reviews; Published: Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:46; Written by Cloud Dance Festival

Thrice yearly, Cloud Dance Festival seeks to bring contemporary dance to the masses with a weekend-long showcase of up and coming choreographers from across the UK on a diverse yet intimate and easily digestible scale. As a testament to how well the festival nurtures its participants, the second evening of Hush featured five returning companies amongst the seven pieces on offer. Programme notes for most could have come straight out of a psychologists’ notebook: domestic abuse, immigrant displacement, apocalypse theory, mutiny and betrayal, and spiritual apathy were all stated sources of inspiration. With such strong conceptual aims this could have easily turned into a chaotic evening for dance, but luckily the tremendous skill and interpretive sensitivity of the performers and choreographers ensured it was anything but.

Friday: Debbie Shine

Details: Category: Hush-Reviews; Published: Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:41; Written by Cloud Dance Festival

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.