Manchester dance choreographers Company Chameleon will exhibit their 10-year anniversary of creating dance theatre next month with a triple bill production,“10”, featuring past and present work.
The company has brought to light 370 performances, delivered 650 workshops, taught dance to 12,500 people and performed in front of a total audience of 75,000 and will celebrate at The Lowry on March 1 and 2.
The Manchester-based company has toured worldwide, touching areas of the earth such as Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, South Africa, France, Italy, Romania, South Korea and Trinidad and Tobago.
Their site-specific production, Illuminate, commissioned by Manchester City Council at the end of last year, launched the start of their 10-year celebrations.
Co-founders Kevin Edward Turner and Anthony Missen now look forward to showcasing “10” – a trademark style of dance that recreates the art of storytelling through powerful and original movement.
Co-artistic director Turner said: “10 is an opportunity for us to say this is where we came from, and this is where we are now.
“The production will give audiences the opportunity to see the best of past and current work by the company, and explore the collective and individual choreographic voices of myself and Anthony, developed and presented within Chameleon’s physical signature style.”
Mancunian Matters was invited to a sneak preview and open coffee session with Company Chameleon to get an insight as to what to expect.
Of the three performances the dancers will perform on the night, we were treated to watching Imprint, a trio choreographed by Turner and Trip, Missen’s new solo piece.
Without giving too much away, MM can report that both the pieces were jaw dropping in their own ways.
Imprint explores the trials and tribulations of love, and how relationships can scar us moving forward into new ones. A physically exquisite battlefield of movement broke out on stage, depicting the push and pull encounters a relationship can face.
Trip embarks more towards “the dark arena of self-deception, exploring the line between true and false identity.”
It includes a very theatrical drama side to it, and touches on what could be a tortured soul dealing with mental health issues.
Missen said: “Our capacity for self-deception has grown with us, with both positive and negative impacts.
“‘Trip’ is a very theatrical work – at times silly, at others sad and revealing. It’s a very human story, told as a jigsaw of snapshots rather than a linear narrative.”
As always, the company made it an even more intimate session by opening up the floor to comments and opinions from the audience.
10 Years Company Chameleon from Company Chameleon on Vimeo.
Alternating viewpoints of the same piece opened up the discussions of how different people received different feelings and thoughts from the pieces.
In one performance someone felt the sense of an “abusive relationship” yet someone else felt a “normal, strong and good relationship”.
The sheer power, originality and style of the movements within the dances create such different sensations for every individual and are sure to leave you questioning how the dance was actually more than just movement, but a storyline which affects you.
With the two preview performances leaving the audience so overwhelmed, so thought-provoked, so unsettled and yet so enchanted in just the preview session, it will be interesting to see what the proper performance with all the stage lighting, props, outfits and sound effects will be like.
Company Chameleon define a style so unique and empowering, that this is definitely NOT a show to miss out on.
