From show-stopping South Asian duets and Latin American-ballet fusion to compelling interpretive styles and even The Peaky Blinders, The Lowry hosts a diverse array of unmissable contemporary dance shows throughout their 2024 season.
Here are some of the best.
On Tue 12 and Wed 13 Mar, Brazil’s highest-regarded dance company makes its eagerly anticipated UK debut with a spellbinding fusion of classical ballet and vivid, sensuous Latin American forms.
Hailed as ‘sleek, sexy and highly technical’ by The New Yorker, the programme features a selection of sparkling routines from three choreographers, each representing their own aspect of South American dance, from soaring ensemble meditations on identity to the viscerally percussive bass of Afro-Brazilian fusion.
Blending her unique directorial styles with captivating physical dance as performed by Freya Davis and Nathan Keenoo, Liverpool-based choreographer Lisa Simpson explores the foundations of connection, isolation, inter-dependency and self-sufficiency in Susan Kempster’s achingly poignant work, Being Human.
Grounded in a thirty-year age gap between symbiotic characters Pip and Duke, the tender masterpiece examines the contrasting ways in which different bodies express age and memory, as the dancers weave in and around one another, ultimately becoming indistinguishable as they challenge what we truly see in appearances.
On Tue 16 Apr, acclaimed South Asian dancers Aakash Odedra and Aditi Mangaldas present a moving and mystifying exploration of human desire, courage and resolve with their new show, Mehek.
Centred around the stirring, complex dynamic between a mature woman and a younger man, Mehek unfolds along the universally resonant rhythms of irrepressible romance, interspersed with ‘elements of nature’ – mirrors glimmer like a calm sea as a symbol of the duality of their dynamic, hiding the tempest lying beneath, as the dancers bare their character to one another and redefine the essence of love together.
Featuring breathtaking dance sequences set to a live on-stage band performing a specially commissioned by Roman GianArthur alongside iconic Peaky Blinders tracks from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Radiohead, Anna Calvi and more, Stephen Knight’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby brings a groundbreaking yet faithfully rendered interpretation of the legendary TV series to The Lowry in October.
Based on the background lore of the show, this jaw-dropping adaptation opens in the desolate fields of Flanders before swiftly finding the Shelby family in post-war Birmingham as they navigate a number of pivotal, irreversible decisions muddied by the alluring, mysterious newcomer Grace.
The Lowry, Pier 8, Salford Quays, Salford, M50 3AZ, Tel: 0161 876 2000
thelowry.com
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Fri 22 Dec 2023
Transporting audiences through a hypnotic world of abstracted relationships, intricate patterns, jaw-dropping choreography and masterful movements, Pagrav Dance’s Aunusthan kicks off The Lowry’s 2024 programme with the stunning spectacle and riotous rhythms of Neo-Classical Indian dance on Tue 9 and Wed 10 Jan.
Created to capture the sweeping stylistic breadth of the North Indian Classical dance form kathak, the latest production from Pagrav Dance Company charts an enchanting, irresistible journey through distant realms with mesmerising rhythms and routines, bursting with rejuvenating energy and vibrant colour which evokes the heart-swelling emotion of a beautiful abstract painting.