Review from The Press, York | Guest Suites at York Minster

"Dance has long been linked with the church, if not so much in recent times.

Furthermore, the full majesty of the Chapter House is only revealed when it is stripped of chairs and brought to life. Nor can Bach's suites for unaccompanied cello sound any more ethereal than in its spacious acoustic.

On all three counts it was imaginative of choreographer Jacky Lansley, her seven dancers and cellist Audrey Riley, to choose this venue for Guest Suites – and an enlightened gesture by the Dean & Chapter to allow them to do so.

With the audience confined to the outer edges of this octagon, the dancers were left free to explore the space. Like all Baroque suites, Bach's are an assemblage of dances. Taking the 18 dances of his first three suites, Lansley explored their physical implications rather than the original dance-steps.

Here she was helped on her way by Jonathan Eato’s “suite inserts”, themselves re-readings of Bach that cleverly dissected four movements and underlined just how edgy the originals were.

Further recorded extracts of Pablo Casals, while justifiable as homage, were a distraction – and a disservice to Riley’s superb artistry. Her opening to the third suite, without dance, drew spontaneous applause.

The dancers glided sinuously, with only occasional leaps, even luring audience members into one. Hannah Mi's exotic parody of belly dance and Fergus Early’s besuited onlooker caught the eye, but the main corps were riveting in their commitment and energy."

Martin Dreyer, The Press, York. 6.03.2012

See the article here:

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk

Responses from the audience | Guest Suites

"I was moved by so much. It was like looking into a glass room full of light and seeing these people clearly and yet not being able to hear their stories – only guess from what was seen. So much was hinted at, expressed, so many fragments of narrative and play, very poetic. It was beautifully structured too and I enjoyed this even more on second viewing. I loved the intricacy of patterns and the repetitions, and that joyous last section. I also had the feeling that all these characters were in the imagination of the musician – taking form as she played – part of the music and yet not the music. It was, of course, a delightfully musical piece too. I wish it could become part of the rep of a very good company. It’s so much better work than most we see, and would grow through performance."
Trisha Dudrey, Audience Member, Clore Studio, ROH 


"Thank you very much for Saturday's concert; the performance was deeply moving and in direct connection with the venue."
Audience Member, York Minster 


"After first seeing the performance at The Clore Studio, I was really touched by the performances of all the dancers, the emotional landscape they created together was extremely powerful to experience. I am inspired by seeing performers of all ages interacting and entwined in the work as one, this is unique in the wider 'dance world', and shares an inspirational message that I fully support and wish to see more of. The overall experience of Guest Suites for me was a reflection on being human and all that this means to each of us individually, highlighted by the audience participation, which was a delight to see. I also came away with strong feelings of a bigger picture of humanity, and the idea of guesting in each others worlds being one that is truly universal, a very beautiful experience. Seeing Guest Suites at York Minister was magical and awe-inspiring to witness, the dancers created a special atmosphere and relationship with the space, one that left you feeling 'Wow!'. Guest Suites fascination is it's ingenuity to adapt and shine in any venue/space, however, for me the experience at York Minister really felt at home."
Katie Keeble, audience member, Clore Studio and York Minister

Guest Suites at The Clore Studio, 17th February

Dancers: Huri Murphy, Esther Huss, Sanna Eriksson Ryg, David Ogle and Cellist: Audrey Riley

Photography by Hugo Glendinning