FIN WALKER
Reflections: Rambert
My father died in 2003, I became obsessed with death and the meaning of life. I was drawn to the ‘Tibetan Book of the dead’ to try and find some answers. ‘Reflection’, created in 2004, was born from my musings whilst reading the book. My fathers death being a catalyst for my own self reflection.
I loved working with this amazing team of dancers. Their commitment unwavering and each of their creative expression brilliant and unique.
Choreography: Fin Walker
Composer: Ben Park
Set Design: Lucy Carter
Costume Design: Ben Maher
Lighting Designer: Lucy Carter
World Premiere: 3 Mar 2004, Rambert Dance Company, Lyceum Theatre
Production Note: In the programme, Lucy Carter is credited as 'Stage and lighting design'.
Number of Dancers: 10
Music Details: Live music: flugelhorn in Bb, horn in F, viola, cello and percussion
Sponsors: Supported by the Ashton/Bruce Commissioning Fund.
Source: Programme and reference file in the Rambert Archive
Archive Catalogue: WORK/0429
REVIEWS
Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
Sat 6 Mar 2004
Rambert's mix of new commissions with repertory work and revivals makes for a lively and eclectic programme. The latest piece is Reflection, from rising young choreographer Fin Walker and her regular musical collaborator Ben Park, which deploys Walker's distinctive style of stop-start action and knotty partnerwork to riveting effect.
Five dancers linked in a line tug and yank each other sideways, sparking chain reactions of stabbing kicks and whiplash jolts. The energy splinters them into combative duos and trios, with solos sent out like stray spinning particles. But they are constantly pulled back into the line, as if by magnetic force. Behind them, another line of five echo their moves like flickering shadows; gradually, the two groups merge and pair into angular friezes. In earlier works, Walker's tenacious pursuit of her choreographic ideas sometimes seemed almost to flog them senseless; here, the sheer density and intensity of the work pack a punch right through to the end.
Tuesday 09 March 2004
Modern dance is full of violent choreography, extreme steps slammed out at the audience. Fin Walker's new Reflection for Rambert Dance Company is forceful enough to be another of these dances, but it isn't aggressive. The steps are tugged, not walloped. It's an arrested dance, always switching from full force to a blunt stop. The Rambert dancers seethe and break out with confident energy.
The music is by Ben Park, the co-director of Walker Dance Park Music. His score starts with a scribbling solo violin, then brings in rock drums with high-hat cymbal, French horn and cello. It's all transitions, and the players of London Music, Rambert's associate orchestra, have fun working their way from one phrase to the next.
Walker's dance stops and starts around the music. She groups the dancers into huddled lines, all holding hands. One yanks the next into movement - a tug shifting them from one position to another, or out into a series of steps. It's domino-effect choreography, knotted muscular movement carried down the line
The solos are just as convulsive. Robin Gladwin, Clemmie Sveaas and Thomasin Gulgec plunge into fast kicks and twists, turning back on themselves in clipped movement. It's not a reflective piece, though Lucy Carter's backdrop makes good use of changing, reflected light. Walker keeps returning to the same ideas, without change of mood or design. But her steps have a compacted force, and Rambert dance with emphatic attack.