In conversation with Toby Gough

It has been a long and successful career as a theatre/musical director. Where and how did you start?

I started as an actor with the National Youth Music Theatre at Edinburgh Festival. I fell in love with the festival. After that I worked in Africa in theatre  education. Then in Yugoslavia and Sri lanka using theatre for conflict transformation and commmunity rebuilding. At Edinburgh Festival I have presented shows for twenty years which has been my home ever since.

What has been your inspiration/motivation over the years?

Telling stories, changing lives, staying where the sun shines.

You have worked internationally with artists from different facets of the arts. Which form of art fascinates you most?

The power of stories, the act of theatre, the intangible power of taking people on a journey of the imagination. A voyage of the soul across frontiers, beyond language.

You have had a long working relation with Asian arts, specifically Indian. What in particular in that culture draws you again and again?

In India the culture is ancient, but contemporary, at the same time celebratory, respectful, religious and very rhythmic, full of stories, dance and music. A country that is fascinating, complex and full of contradictions, and a never ending source of inspiration; my father’s family have lived in India for over 300 years so the love for India is in the blood.

Please share with us a couple of your best experiences while working in India or with Indian/Asian artistes.

Children of the sea, a project using shakespeares play Pericles, working with child surivors of the tsunami in refugee camps across Sri Lanka.

Working with Vaibhavi Merchant and Shruti Merchant.

Writing The Spice Trail and performing with members of Tanusree Shankar’s talented company in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh Festival lit by fire and lanterns at night.

What brought about Merchants of Bollywood?

The time was right. I was sitting in an Indian restaurant  in New Zealand with producer Mark Brady and we saw that the story of the Bollywood Industry was stll not  as well known in the western world but there was a fascination for its dance routines and its glamour and positive energy and spirit. Over a chicken tikka and a King Fisher lager, the idea for a Bollywood show was born.

What made you approach Vaibhavi Merchant?

I asked Tanusree who would be the right person for the Bollywood style and she told me that Vaibhavi was the upcoming star on the horizon. I tracked her down in Mumbai and finally persuaded her to meet with me. She then introduced me to Salim and Sulaiman Merchant the music composers and the rest is history.

What was it like working with Vaibhavi Merchant, one the  leading Bollywood choreographers?

Working with Vaibhavi is the easiest thing in the world. The show is the story of her life. Her background in Rajtasthan, her choreographies, her grandfather’s life. The show became a personal work for her and her family. Vaibhavi has a large company of dancers to work from and they are very disciplined. We created the show in film studios in Mumbai. What was difficult was for the dancers to learn a whole show as they normally proceed shot by shot, and for them to leave the country on tour. They prefer staying in Mumbai.

My 6 year old daughter was excited to be going to the new children’s show BOING! at Saddlers Wells on the last day of the school term. As we sat and waited for the show to start, the audience, comprising mostly of young children took a while to quieten as the anticipation grew. A large bed covered in childlike scribbles inviting them to jump on it.

Out came Joêl Daniel and Wilkie Branson of street dance company Champloo who choreograph and star in the show. The pair play young brothers eagerly awaiting Santa on Christmas Eve. Reminding themselves that “If you want Santa to come, you must go to sleep” the two brothers constantly fail in their attempts to do just that.

The show starts with Branson and Daniel, dressed in pyjamas also covered in a childlike scribble, brushing their teeth with a comedy gurgle. The children in the audience were amused from the beginning and the show kept their attention for the entire 50 minutes.

The pair really got into the imagination of young children and we were taken along on a ride with them through joint games and brotherly scraps. Joêl’s highly expressive face showed off perfectly the range of emotions from disappointment as he found nothing in his stocking, to the joy of playing a trick on Wilkie.

My daughter was amazed at the comedy timings of their choregraphed dance fight. The bed was used to great advantage in their scuffles, enabling Joêl to outmanoeuvre his brother. We both agreed the highlight of the show was when the pair emerged from under the bed as robots, the lights dimmed and we were treated to a whirling acrobatic light show.

                                                                                            Nicola Thompson

It is an enchanting experience to see, how music can also dance. Music of Barbican Britten came live on stage at  Barbican Theatre with choregraphies by Richard Alston. Alston who is overwhelmed by Britten’s music since his childhood days, made his choregraphies speak. They are as eloquent as the words in Britten’s music, played live on stage by Britten Sinfonia.

The show starts with ‘Lachrymae’, the dancers float and fly on stage with gracious movements .The mood subdued and melancholy. This dance was created for Aldeburgh festival in 1994-revived this year as part of Britten 100, a celebration of the composers’ centenary year.

Richard Alston’s tribute to Pytt Geddes , who pioneered the teaching of T’ai Chi Chuan in Britain is ‘Fragments’ , the next piece. There are six songs, fragments from the work of visionary poet Freidrich Holderlin. It’s the world premiere of this prformance and a remarkable experience for its audience.

Allison Cook is surely the star of the entire evening, with her breathtaking performance in the composition ‘Phaedra’. A world premier too, and a must see for all. Your heart will cry with Phaedra when she appears before her husband and confesses her crime. She takes poison and calmly ends her tortured existence. Ihsaan de Banya, James Muller, Nancy Nerantzi together with the entire cast brings the beautiful story vividly on stage. The depth of their performance connect the audience to the story and it feels heavy on the heart when Hippolyus ‘s chariot dash against the rock and he dies.

‘Illuminations’ the last piece of the evening brought together an imagination of an ideally happy couple initially and how pace of life separate them, beautifully portrayed by Liam Riddick and Nathan Goodman.

Designed by Fotini Dimou, the costumes deserve a special mention -the dancers elegant in the  subtle and pastel shades which comfortably embrace them. The evening sees the coming together of a fine creative team with choreographer Richard Alston and Britten Sinfonia. A true celebration of world class music and dance and an unmissable experience!

                                                                                                                                        Sharmi Roy

Sharmi , started her life as a professional dancer and now a Learning Solution Architect designing development  programs for people who want to learn and grow, loves to watch and write about  dance shows she sees across the globe, wherever she travels.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Milonga is a homage to Tango and the city of Buenos Aires.

Milonga is his attempt to unravel the mystery of the dance which is as much about the spirit as the senses. He goes beyond the man-woman connection in a traditional Tango to add new narratives around human relationships. The result is beautiful and moving.

The show starts with a background projection of a party scene, or ‘Milonga’ where couples are locked in intimate Tango embraces. The man-woman dynamics of wooing, jealousy, heart break and the final coming together of the souls in ultimate submission. Cherkaoui then moves on to explore further. Keeping the cliches, for his audience to enjoy the usual and be intrigued to delve deeper, into the new Cherkaoui innovation.

‘Milonga’ is also about woman to woman partnership, a trio of three men enjoying a joyous camaraderie, a woman’s dream of sharing a close relationship with a baby and also love triangles. But in all this he does not depart from the core essence of the dance form – intimacy, close embrace, support, touch and playful pleasure.There are also sharp contrasts of techniques displayed through the choreography. The use of 5 Tango dancer couples and 1 Contemporary dancer couple take ‘Milonga’ to a higher plane of stark contrasts in glorious harmony.

They twirl in each others arms eyes shut. Some are frozen in timeless gaze, lost in each others eyes when their breath reach out to brush past the audience. There are steaming scenes where the couples are chest to chest, hip to hip and thigh to thigh, as if their souls are fused in one. They emit sparks in their fiery, crisp and sharp Tango moves. Time and space evaporate. What remains is the mad dying need to be in each others arms. A complete surrender to the partner, tearing and destroying anything that might come in between. Even with closed eyes, one would feel the fierceness of the sensuous passion that flows through movement and music on the floor.

Men share a brief moment to challenge each other in a playful banter and good natured repartee. A masculine scene full of energy and spirit. Cherkaoui also brings in humour through the couple who following their unexpected rendezvous, flirt with each other. The coquettish tourist in the city goes all out to match up in Tago moves with the man who is a local. Her awkward moves are true to the character, and carried out with finesse.

The scenes flow through a collage of relationships. Tango -primarily the dance of connection between two people has also been treated as a mirror of relationships between two or more, in their various forms, shapes, colours and essence in Milonga!

The dance scenes are intercepted with melodious music sections with accompanying state of the art video design. Cut outs of dancing couples have been used with a variety of lighting designs. Sometimes they are living – as true as being physically present. Or they are snowy, white, blank paper skinned shapes with human outlines, carving out sensual dancing partners. Sometimes  they are colourful – reflecting the dancers that merge from the dark background, transposing into these shapes to get into their next sequence. Cherkaoui’s imagination of a thousand wonders merge to meet the expertise of Eugenio Szwarcer, set and video designer and Adam Carree, lighting designer. It is the phenomenal visual art that augments the Cherkaoui innovation in an evening of Tango.

Cherkaoui has proved to be the master of absorbing different styles and recreating them. Retaining their unique originality with touches from his own paint brush to draw a new design in movement. In creating Milonga, he travels deep into the roots of Tango and then journeys back up to the surface to refashion it in his own image. Milonga is a narrative of human relationships that touches the heart!

Sun is the latest production from Hofesh Shechter’s oeuvre. Sun lives up to his reputation as one of the most fecund thinker choreographers in UK.

He is an artiste who probably has a million visions in his mind with the ability to bring them to life. Sun is no exception. Starting with a tongue in cheek reassurance in Shechter’s voice promising a happy ending with the audience safely ensconced, the show progresses from calm serenity to unexpected scenes of gut wrenching violence and chaos.

With the  dash of humour at the beginning, the audience warms up as the music breaks in with Shechter’s trademark lighting flooding the stage. A scene of picture postcard calm – with a herd of cardboard cutout sheep is rudely shattered by a cardboard cutout wolf with malevolent intentions. An ear splitting scream from a camouflaged dancer sitting with the audience in the front row further unsettles the audience. The music changes with extremely loud thumping heavy rock beats. The sheep scatter and Shechter’s  band of dancers change their tranquil dance moves to his custom jerky body movements projecting fear and loathing. There is uncontrolled chaos on stage and scenes of incredible violence. There is shooting and stabbing. The dancers mimic picking up rifles and point to the audience or they get stabbed themselves falling flat on their faces.Tranquility is torn up. The dancers who are enjoying their folksy dance moves, are shaken stabbed and torn by the rule of the businessman, again in a cardboard cutout keeping strict control over them. The dancers bunch up in a group repeating the same movement trying to tell that they are happy in their way of life, together in their routined existence.  A conscious attempt to protect and support each other. Complete blackout at times with a stark opposite of full bright lights and then all settling down getting calmer. The sheep slide in so does the wolf and then the businessman, scream from the dancer in the audience provoking another set of turmoil.

In Sun Shechter’s mind turns to the chaos and uncertainties of everyday life that lurks behind a sunny facade. Its not as soul shaking and awe inspiring in conception as the Political Mother, his last work. But it’s still Shechter with his raw energy and mind boggling stage concepts saying something existential about us modern beings.

                                                                                                Protima Chatterjee

Still Current showcases solos, duets and trios choreographed by Russell Maliphant. Maliphant has earned international fame from working with renowned dance companies and artists and has bagged a series of awards including an Olivier Award for ‘PUSH’ with Sylvie Guillem. A Sadler’s Wells associate artist, Maliphant brings to his audience a smart and slick presentation accompanied by exquisite and clever lighting and projection by Michael Hulls and animation by Jan Urbanowski.

Five innovative pieces set out to wow the audience at Arts Depot in North London. Every piece has a demarcated zone rendered by ingenious use of spot lights which zoom in and out to make the space bigger or smaller in the choreographies. This lighted zone would also glide around the stage or switch in and out of different zones. It would sometimes keep the dancers confined within its bounds or would swish them along the stage virtually like a magic carpet. Movements in each piece are vibrant, modern and exhibits perfect technique. Tremendous energy from the dancers draw in the audience. Focussing on the floor patterns that change shape and design and add a new dimension with almost every change in the music note, shifts the mind into a trance like state. Whether in or out of sync, there is a consistent but unpredictable music and light play creating a magic sub layer to Still Current. Music composers Armand Amar, Andy Cowton, Mukul and Erik Satie have brought in their best to give the performance a boost.

Agile dancers moving sharp under the light, create blurred imagery in the mind’s eye making the experience ethereal. It would either seem that the dancers are still and an atomic movement is whizzing around them to produce a blurry, hazy image. Or you would say to yourself, ‘hang on a minute!’….it’s fast movement that’s blurring the vision between one point to the other in the transitional phase of an arm or a limb, creating a montage of images.

To Maliphant  who has always been interested in sculpture, light is an important tool as he uses light to sculpt the dancers bodies. He has a set lighting pattern and then tries movements that fit in the frame to yield extraordinary results. The lighting and projection designer has worked extensively with Maliphant and their collaborations have won them international acclaim and numerous awards. It is evident from Still Current, that in the course of their long collaborative journey, the pair have developed an instinctive understanding of each other’s creative minds.

The opening piece ‘Traces’ is based on the Brazilian martial art of capoeira. It is performed  by the trio of male dancers – Maliphant, Thomasin Gulgec and Dickson Mbi. The piece features the use of long sticks which comes across as a sign of authority and power and a source for acrobatics on stage – But as the piece progresses more layers  are added on. Movements blur when the sticks are swished around with force. With this first piece Maliphant establishes the theme, which deepens as the evening moves forward.

All the four dancers of the evening including Maliphant himself added different levels and forms of physical nuances. Dickson Mbi comes from a background of popping and boogaloo and later trained at the London Contemporary Dance School, Thomasin Gulgec and Carys Staton are both trained at Swindon Dance and Rambert School. Gulgec has worked with renowned choreographers in varied dance styles such as Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Staton has performed works by Mark Baldwin and Kerry Nicholls.

Maliphant’s focus has been on choreography for the last 10 years and he had discontinued performance during this period. On Sylvie Guillem’s request, Maliphant choreographed a piece for the two of them which brought him back to stage. The result was ‘PUSH’ followed by an Olivier award for this outstanding piece. He continues to perform and in Still/Current he shares his role with Adam Kirkham from the Balletboyz. Techniques from these different dance backgrounds merge in Maliphant’s work to produce dynamic results.

In Still Current Maliphant’s ideas about light and movement come together with his ensembles virtuoso performance skills. The effect is an enchanting melange of movement and light.

                                                                                                                            Protima Chatterjee

Carlos Acosta does not believe in a summer break. Its his 40th birthday and to mark the occasion he has hired his gifted colleagues from the Royal ballet to present classical show pieces at the coliseum. Its also in one sense Acosta’s homage to his favourite choreographers. And with five of the thirteen selections being  Kenneth Macmillan’s choreographies Acosta’s key inspiration is very clear.

The evening opens with a a very understated Winter Dreams based on a Chekhov story. Carlos Acosta dances with Marianela Nunez evoking a subdued and ultimately tragic romance.

Melissa Hamilton is beautifully serene in Fokine’s dying swan. Her grace and elegance evokes both the beauty and the pathos of the dying swan

However the evening really comes to life with Manon. The electric Leanne Benjamin who unbelievably is 49 years old, sets the stage on fire with her enthusiasm as the star crossed lover of French nobleman Des Grieux.

Scheherazade remained a huge  disappointment. With its garish outfits and desperate moves it was somehow out of place in the evening’s selection

The second half opens with a brooding Mayerling. Gloomy with a foreboding sense of impending tragedy its again a class act from Acosta and Leanne Benjamin.

Tryst with Eric Underwood and Melissa Hamilton is exquisite. Its almost deliciously slow and finely balanced perfectly reflecting the music by James Macmillan

For me the high points of the evening is Requiem and Memoria. Two very unlike works  from Acosta. His take on Faure’s Requiem is  melancholic and soulful and touches the heart. Memoria like the electronic music by murcof is abstract and post modern.

Overall it was a satisfying evening ending with a long standing ovation by a besotted audience

English National Ballet is presenting a triple bill as homage to legendary dancer Rudolf Nureyev at the London Coliseum from July 25-27.  Abundantart covered the show on the 25th July.

The evening opened with documentary footage of the celebrated dancer – his signature crouch and electrifying movements across the stage and moved on to the three works in whose making Nureyev was closely associated. The featured ballets were Petrushka, Wayfarer and Act III of Raymonda.

The first one was Petrushka with a stunning recreation of the famous butter fair scene in 1830s St. Petersburg. It’s a bustling fair scene, with snow on the ground, gypsies and street dancers, drunk revellers, food hawkers and a solitary policeman jostling with the towns people when the crowd’s attention is drawn to an animated puppet show. The puppets are life sized and appear life like in their attributes. The three puppets-Petrushka, the moor and the ballerina are locked in a love triangle. Petrushka is hopelessly romantic and falls for the Ballerina. The Ballerina however is in love with the Moor and doesn’t reciprocate. With this tragic unrequited love, Petrushka still pursues his love and gets into a fight with the Moor and is slain in front of the fair crowd. The master puppeteer returns to pick up the lifeless Petrushka –a mere floppy rag doll now. As he makes way back to his stall he is horrified to see Petrushka’s spirit alive rising from the roof his stall. Fabian Reimair as Petrushka

With music from Gustav Mahler and choreography by Maurice Bejar the Song of the Wayfarer is tailor made for the male dancer. Two dancers strut along on a bare stage with a touch of pathos and nostalgia. It reminds us of the loneliness of the great dancer and his yearning for his lost home, but in the end has to accept his destiny.

The opulent wedding scenes from Raymonda Act III showed his greatness as a classical choreographer. This was an apt homage to Nureyev as he is credit to reviving this production almost single handedly in 1964 purely from memory of his early years at the Kirov Ballet. It was spectacular performance on a lavish set revealing a vast pool of talent through the ranks of artists at the English Ballet. Vadim Muntagirov drew excited cheers from audience with his impeccable performance in the wayfarer and as Jean De Brienne in Raymonda. Daria Klimentova as Raymonda was exquisitely elegant. The four soloist ballerinas were outstanding showing a great depth of talent.

The evening was a fitting tribute to someone who with his enormous drawing power attracted whole new audiences to watch classical ballet at theatres. The packed audience at the London Coliseum had a fair share of the younger generation which should be good news for the English National Ballet and classical ballet in general

‘The Showstoppers’ is an unique attempt at an Improvised Musical show. It begins life as a workshop at the Actor’s Centre in London, when Dylan Emery, Adam Meggido and Ken Campbell took a group of actors with little or no experience and within a week attempted to get them to perform an hour long extempore musical in front of a packed house.

I attended the last show of this year at the Udderbelly festival at Southbank Centre. As I was waiting outside the giant purple cow to enter the tent, I met a lady who was coming for the second time in the last two week to see the sh

ow. I was intrigued- a tourist such as her herself, with  limited time in hand, would invest to see this show twice. Well why? She mentioned each show is completely different, and she wants to see the show as many times. That was a revelation-custom made shows which turn out differently at each performance.  Well, now I was all the more looking forward for the show.

‘The Showstopper’ is an attempt to create an interactive musical based on suggestions from the audience. Dylan Emery- The  writer is on the phone with  his producer who wants the next musical ready in the next one hour . He asks the audience for help with theme, musical styles and a title. He took everything the audience threw at him, including suggestions for the title- ‘ Adam and Steve’. The show then turns out to be the most hilarious, innovative musical with flavours ranging from opera music to cabaret!

Adam and Steve in love bathing in the waterfall was one of the most hilarious scene – splashing water at each other and enjoying each other’s company, till the devils show the road to hell, where both  get the taste of wine and women .

For the audience the next 70 minutes was a rollercoaster experience. All the more satisfying with the knowledge that it was created at the spur of the moment without a set script? The dialogue, the action, the story and the characters were all the moving parts that were put together by the players, interactively with the audience.

The cast is an innovative bunch of talented performers. However, stand out performances of the evening were Julie Clare (The God), Adam Meggido (The Devil) , Andrew Pugsley (Steve)  and Philip Pellew (Adam). The music director on the keyboard, Duncan Walsh Atkins , percussionist Alex Atty  and supported by Chris Ash blended the music in the theatre in such a way, it felt like they knew what was coming up next , and added the right kind of tune for every dramatic moment.

The show is done professionally and collaboratively – sometimes having duets and group dances , in such synchronisation that it was hard to believe that everything was impromptu. It was, as the lady, I referred in the beginning mentioned  ‘Nothing was common from what I have seen last time – not even a single song’.

What a bunch of talent! Unimaginable .You can only see them to believe it. I am ready for a second, third and may be many more future versions. This should rank very much as a must watch show.

                                                                                                            Sharmi Roy

                                                     Sharmi is a catalyst to people ‘s transformation and growth,                                                                                         if she was not in learning and development she would have been a dancer.