Despite its minority status, these are boom times for experimental dance. Since Christmas we've seen Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion at Sadler's Wells, then Jérôme Bel, also at the Wells, and now Stephanie Schober at the South Bank. Between then they sail the far shores of choreographic invention, with Schober possibly the furthest out to sea.
Her specialty is pure-dance works that are vigorous, asymetrical, and intentionally unpolished. The dance vocabulary looks drawn from everyday gesture, like real life speeded up, with the come-as-you-are costumes reinforcing this point.
Thus is Catch, from 2005, that opened Schober's mini-run of micro-scale work at the Purcell Room. It is a duet for two women, Schober herself and Katsura Isobe, and it is both intelligent and anonymous. At the close, you feel no connection with the dancers, while their relationship with the music, a point Schober emphasizes, remains obscure.
A more accessible piece is Newly (2007). It's another duet (Elisabetta d'Aloia and Juraj Korec), with the dancers accompanying their movement with related sound effects. There is humour in their swooshes and kerr-pows, and warmth in their implied couple-dom. The last piece, The Accompanists (2007), feels like more of the same but the experiment was still intriguing to see.
Stephanie Schober Dance Company: Between Sound & Silence (Newly/The Accompanists/Catch)
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre
The South Bank Centre,Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX
