Dance Revolutionaries – Kenneth MacMillan and Robert Cohan in cinemas
Certainly, Dance Revolutionaries may be a “captivating 74-minute exploration of raw emotion through dance set in stunning locations” as the blurb proclaims, but it is intense, cheerless viewing without let-up.
Portraits and Sea of Troubles make up the double bill, with five powerful solos from Robert Cohan in the first part and Kenneth MacMillan’s Hamlet-inspired piece completing the film.
It is lovingly shot by Emmy-nominated director David Stewart on a beach, in a graffiti-covered tunnel, an elegant country house, a modern glass-walled space, the bare stage of the Royal Opera House… The cinematic colouring, camera movement, and the use of ambient noise are a long way from live stage relays seen in the cinema. This is cinema.
Yolande Yorke-Edgell whose Yorke Dance Project has produced the film in partnership with the Royal Ballet – in select UK cinemas from 26 June 2024 – says,
What connects us as human beings is our shared experience, the compassion and empathy we feel in understanding each other’s physical and emotional reality. Robert Cohan and Kenneth MacMillan were both compelled by this shared, human experience to make their dances real for audiences. They sought to express what we all know – what it is to be human.
While true, the works give a monochromatic vision of the human experience. But at 74 minutes, why not.
Interestingly, the director, Stewart, says,
I remember being in a rehearsal room with Sir Robert Cohan about five or six years ago. I know next to nothing about dance, and to be honest, I was slightly intimidated by the whole art form. Cohan was quietly choreographing Communion, one of his final works, and I was struggling to get a handle on it. In a break, I shuffled up to him and asked; how do I make sense of what’s going on? He said, “The only thing that matters is how it makes you feel.”
Maybe the feelings of all those involved were coloured by a very particular time in recent history – the Covid pandemic. Portraits was choreographed and filmed during that period. Solos. Single dancers in desolate landscapes accompanied by agonising music (by Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds including the pieces ‘It Was Really, Really Grey’, ‘Less’, ‘Pause’ and ‘Happiness Does Not Wait’), with a longing to return to normality.
Sea of Troubles, though, was filmed at Hatfield House, which was Queen Elizabeth I’s childhood home – a glorious palace with astonishing grounds. Here, there is interaction between the characters, though desperation is still the underlying theme. The music that MacMillan chose is by Bohuslav Martinů and Anton Webern.
The seven outstanding dancers – Dane Hurst, Romany Pajdak, Edd Mitton, Jonathan Goddard, Freya Jeffs, Oxana Panchenko, Benjamin Warbis – match the expressiveness of the cinematography. Hurst is especially notable, with an intense face and softly expressive gestures, both in his ‘graffiti’ solo and as Hamlet. But Dance Revolutionaries is truly a group project and the love and passion from all involved comes through in every frame.
Dance Revolutionaries will be in select UK cinemas from 26 June 2024.
For the latest information on screenings: https://yorkedance.com/productions/dance-revolutionaries/
Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Carla Fracci.
Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.
He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.
