Panta Rei Danseteater bring amazing contemporary dance to Beverley

ArtERY Live and Beverley Arts Trust brought the incredibly physical and expressive Panta Rei Danseteater to St Mary's Parish Hall last night as part of Lit/Up, Beverley's festival of words. Entitled 'I Wish Her Well', this Norwegian Dance Company entertained with something very different to the usual talks and discussions.

This was a performance in three parts, which deserved a larger audience. Where were all the contemporary dance students and their teachers? When such a renown troupe come to Beverley and the timing is such that the performance ends reasonably early, it would have been wonderful to have seen more people there who are involved in or studying dance.

But those of us who were there were enthralled, amazed and energised by the four young women in the troupe. Parts one and two were interpretations of personal stories, performed in fast, strong, beautiful, thought-provoking dance to original music scored by British composer Nathaniel Reed. There are words spoken over the music to inform the dance and help tell the tales but otherwise, its the dance that provokes and engages the audience. The performance is held in the round with minimal props - a mirror and a couple of tatty old books with loose leafs in part one, egg-timers and the books again in part two - but in part two, the props are the medium for closer interaction with the audience. 

Part three is an audience/performer feedback session. The company is Norwegian, started in 2000. The four performers have been together since 2011 and performing 'I Wish Her Well' since 2012 as the very intimate, in-the-round, powerful and feisty piece we were privileged to experience last night. As they said, no performance is ever the same as the audience is never the same! It is the audience which gives them their energy - children respond differently to adults for example, but there is flex as the dance develops and the dancers get to know each other better. And sometimes they do fall over the props!

Many congratulations to ArtERY, Beverley Arts Trust and Lit/Up for bringing such challenging theatrical dance to Beverley. Those who were there will not forget it and will definitely be first in the queue should Panta Rei ever come this way again.