Sun: Michelle Harris

From March 26th – 28th , Cloud Dance Festival hosted Trouble & Desire, its 10th festival, celebrated at the Pleasance Theatre in North London. Sunday’s choreographic platform was on the whole particularly blessed by companies boasting strong, well accomplished dancers and inventive movement choices. Therefore, throughout the night, it was frustrating that a lack of diversity in pace and climatic build of kinetic energy, seemed to dampen the overall impact of several works.

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Fri: Debbie Shine

Cloud Dance Festival runs three times a year, moving from venue to venue to try to reach as many different communities as possible with the provision of a platform for professional and innovative contemporary dance. The next instalment from them will be Hush at Cochrane Theatre, in Holborn, 16th-18th July, so don’t miss out! Led by director Chantal Guevara, they never fail to present a varied selection of work that ensures there really is something for everyone to enjoy.

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Sat: Laura Bridges

Contemporary dance is often met with groans and confused looks, but this audience was both appreciative and intrigued to see more. Trouble and Desire, following suit from the 9 festivals before it, provided a platform for emerging contemporary choreographers and companies to show their work in The Pleasance Theatre, Islington. Offering these opportunities thrice yearly, Cloud Dance Festival is an unfunded organisation working to develop audiences for contemporary dance and is successful in its mission.

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Sat: Debbie Shine

Cloud Dance Festival runs 3 times a year, moving from venue to venue to try to reach as many different communities as possible with the provision of a platform for professional and innovative contemporary dance. The next instalment from them will be Hush at Cochrane Theatre, in Holborn, 16th-18th July, so don’t miss out! Led by director Chantal Guevara, they never fail to present a varied selection of work that ensures there really is something for everyone to enjoy.

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Sun: Lise Smith

The last night of Cloud Dance Festival’s tenth showcase, Trouble and Desire, opened with a meditation on the opposing yet interdependent forces of yin-yang in Chinese philosophy, and ideas of parity and disparity, of complement and contrast informed much of the evening’s work.

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Fri: Remotegoat

"Intriguing spectacle of bodies' scope."
by Patrick Cash for remotegoat on 28/03/10

Contemporary dance can often divide its spectators into a distinct dichotomy of those who appreciate its futuristic innovations in movement and those who are left rather cold by a seemingly bizarre set of surreal kinetics displayed upon the stage. However, what the Cloud Dance Festival's Trouble & Desire successfully did at the Pleasance Theatre in Islington was to create a vibrant, original and varied programme of as many strikingly unique dance acts as possible, so that there appeared to be something for every individual member of the audience. Whether you were a dance aficionado of twenty years' experience or simply a grudging father dragged along by his ballet-obsessed daughter, the sheer energy and piquant spice of such a show couldn't fail to enthrall one at some point.

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Fri: Jennifer Teale

In spite of a few technical difficulties the opening night of Cloud Dance Festival’s 10th season was yet another accomplished production organised by director Chantal Guevara. A thrice-yearly festival showcasing a wealth of contemporary dance talent from national and international artists, Cloud Dance Festival is now in its fourth successful year. An eclectic mix of contemporary choreography, the aptly-named Trouble and Desire is Cloud Dance’s first offering of the year.

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Sun: Londonist

The first Cloud Dance Festival of 2010 presented a hugely mixed bill, featuring seven very different pieces, at Pleasance Theatre, last night. Here are our highlights:

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