This country is addicted to the likes of Strictly Come Dancing and Britain’s Got Talent and as a result of these programmes, we have all been trained as professional dance judges and talent seekers. In fact, we are handed the role with such unquestionable control that we can shape the career of a rising star as one great omnipotent public. Alternatively, we can let a farce such as the recent ‘Jedward’ fiasco carry on and watch all that is just and true in the world turn to dust. But back to the point in hand, we are all good judges of talent. Put two singers or two dancers on a stage and almost anyone an tell you which of them is has got it. And you know what I mean by ‘it’.
Unfortunately, these expertise we have acquired means that when a show like Trent Dance’s ‘Nostalgia’ goes to the stage, the blunders, trips, knocks and missed timing of an army of dancers, appearing one after the other make them very easy targets for critique. That being said, the dancers of ‘Nostalgia’ performed superbly. There was the odd moment where a kick/spin/throw or whatever didn’t come together, but whereas a dance on TV’s Strictly or Dance Like Michael Jackson may last a minute and a half, ‘Nostalgia’ went on for over an hour. Astonishing, aye? Although, to be fair there was an interval. And breaks between sets… but that is still pretty impressive.
Besides, let’s not think about what it wasn’t and look at what it was – a celebration of all things dancey over the past ten decades – and frankly, the sheer amount of work that was involved is monumental. Nostalgia saw fourteen dance routines themed with eight different decades in a seamless event, apart from a few technical errors that if anything were pitiable – as one group were forced to stop in mid-routine and start over. The choreography was expertly thought out, the majority of it by Marie Marriot and Becky Bunting, and at times was nothing short of awesome (and I don’t mean awesome like a hotdog… I mean awesome like a million hotdogs, sir).
I caught up with intermediate level dancer, Katy Hooper, who filled me in on the training and preparation. “The sheer number of hours and the amount of commitment involved is staggering; in the run up, people were rehearsing for hours every day, and it goes to show how seriously we all take it. But dance is also a lot of a fun, and hugely gratifying when you see the show as a whole. Dancing to music in a studio, and then seeing it with the music loud and the lights and effects really gets the adrenaline pumping. […] Marie is an amazing choreographer and very passionate about her art and as a result is a perfectionist and a visionary. She pushes you to your limits, almost to the point of hating her, and then in the end she is nothing but encouraging.”
Most notable were the Michael Jackson and Christmas themed medleys, and the Chicago show tune which included a change in style for familiar faced Naz, whom I remembered from last year’s show at Oceana, into a 1920’s Argentine Tango kind of… thingy. Very impressive it was too, and I might add that even though I expected to see a range of different styles, it was refreshing to see a Srictly-esque duet make it into a university event. And here was I, thinking the classic approach to dancing had died, and was only being kept alive by the ever-so conservative BBC.
Nik Charity
