James Wilton: Triple Bill Physicality at its finest

Ivy Arts Centre
Wednesday 9^th November 2011

A spotlight rises on a solitary female sat with her arms above her head as if hanging from invisible strings, and the audience is unsure what to expect from emerging choreographer James Wilton. Making his first appearance at Surrey, Wilton presented an exciting triple bill loaded with acrobatics, daring lifts and breath-taking movement. Recently graduated from London Contemporary Dance School, Wilton is becoming rapidly established in the contemporary dance world, and has just been awarded the BBC Performing Arts Fellowship Award.

Throughout the evening, Wilton’s incredible talents as both a choreographer and performer wowed the audience. The first piece, ‘Cave’, was an explosive quintet which displayed intense physicality: the dancers threw themselves at each other and across the blank, black stage with a fearless quality that both shocked and amazed. The use of manipulation was a key feature, with several duets and trios involving interchanging active and passive roles. Adam Gain particularly stood out, becoming doll-like as he was moved and lifted around the stage. The piece showed great contrast of being grounded with flight, displaying acrobatic lifts followed by drops and melts into the floor and fast, intricate floor sequences.

The next piece was ‘Falling Unknown’, a duet between Sarah Jane Taylor and James Wilton himself. The piece started off with a sense of uncertainty, almost feeling like the audience were observers of a rehearsal. The dancers wore casual clothes, trainers and had a relaxed approach to the choreography, smiling and almost laughing at each other. However, as the piece progressed, some clear choreographic concepts became apparent which were both simple yet effective. The most memorable section of the piece was arguably the final one, in which Taylor removed her shoes, yet her feet never touch the floor. Wilton assisted her in complicated lifts, moving her around his body and providing ‘stepping stones’ with his body parts for her to walk on.

The final piece, ‘The Shortest Day’, was the winner of the 2010 Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest. The work pushed the four dancers to their absolute limits, with Wilton’s choreographic aim to do as much as physically possible in just 15 minutes. Despite having similar movement ideas to the previous pieces, ‘The Shortest Day’ had a darker quality, displaying power, desperation and franticness.

James Wilton proved himself as a choreographer who will undoubtedly be inspirational in the contemporary dance world, with a long, exciting career ahead of him. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for the future!