Rooster by Rambert | Review

A week ago I had the privilege of going to watch a performance of 'Rooster' by the Rambert. The Rambert is one of Britain's oldest dance companies, which is full of talented dancers from all over the world. Their pieces are always different yet intriguing and their performances always polished. 'Rooster' was no different.

 

The actual Rooster performances come at the close of the evening and it is absolutely worth waiting for. The intricacy of the movements, the flexibility of the females and the strength and physical prowess of the males is all showcased beautifully. Every single dancer had great musicality and fully embraced the iconic music of the 60s that supported the final act. Aside from a few forgivable off-balance landings and losses of synchronicity - have you ever tried dancing with that amount of energy for that long? - the Rooster performance piece was beautiful. Miguel Altunaga, who finishes the piece with a little comic sigh, is a clear audience favourite but the performances of Vanessa Kang, Adam Blyde and Mark Kimmett that most impressed me.

 

Prior to Rooster came three very different performances, of varying enjoyment. A brilliant little solo skit titled 'Dutiful Ducks' initially brought about laughs, from the repetitive audio and word imagery that is hard to not find amusing. But the talent of the soloist in question quickly commandeered our attention and his performance was nothing short of perfect.

 

The first performance was, by and large, great. I loved the use of all the different all in one costumes, which ranged from red all the way through to galaxy print. It was the performance in between which I unfortunately cannot remember the name of - despite having the bought the programme! - that I found the least enjoyable. The dancing again I simply could not critique, even if I had the audacity to attempt to. Instead, I found myself feeling quite nauseous as a result of the somewhat chaotic soundtrack. Full of bird sounds and intense squawks, I felt a little like what I imagine a really bad trip feels like. I have never taken drugs so I can't verify the validity of my here claim, but my ears felt awful and my concentration was spent. The longer it lasted, the less I was able to focus solely on the dancing, as magnificent as it was.

 

It was fine though because as I mentioned, the wait and the anticipating following that somewhat unusual birdlike performance was so worth it by the time Rooster came to the stage. I could have watched it time and time again, and from the reception given by the audience following the performance, so could many others.