Theatre and Dance Previews

This month brings a chance for you to experience CandoCo, the leading contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers, who can be seen at the University of Hertfordshire on Friday 26 October 2007.

In what is described as "an exhilarating mix of extreme physicality, dramatic music and intense performance" audiences can see the dancers in new works by top choreographers Arthur Pita and Rafael Bonachela. The evening also includes a new composition by iconic composer and 60s pop legend Scott Walker.

"CandoCo is a dance company like any other" he said.

"And it has a policy of integration of people that have disabilities - in the office as well as the dancers. So, we have dancers that are disabled and dancers that aren't, that's always been how the company works.

And as a result he explained, the ethos is not just to make dance accessible to everyone but to "also explore the possibilities that this will bring into the art form itself".

"I think the ethos of the company is something that places art in relation to society and the world we live in" he said.

Physicality

However, when auditioning dancers, the company is not interested in specific disabilities, they look for the physicality and the way that they move, just like they would for any dancer.

"We are not particularly interested in their disability" revealed Pedro.

"When a dancer comes to an audition we don't ask them their medical history, what we are interested in is their physicality.

"At the moment we have one dancer who is a wheelchair user who moves in and out of his chair and moves beautifully both ways" he continued.

"We teach loads of workshops and in our education programme we teach any kind of disability" he continued.

"We have come across very different physicalities, very exciting people in the way they move and the way they perceive their bodies."

New possibilities             

Like many dance companies, CandoCo commissions choreographers to come and make work for them. Their current tour consists of two pieces, one by Rafael Bonachela and one by Arthur Pita. Pedro explained how much choreographers seem to enjoy working with the company.

"They are all very experienced choreographers and they come in and meet our dancers and they just have new possibilities to work with" he said.

"It's like they've been given a new set of pencils with a lot of colours that they hadn't thought of. They enjoy it a lot and are very complimentary. They are always very chuffed by the professionalism of the company and how we're not asking for pity and we're not asking for acceptance in that sense. It's just in the work, the work speaks for itself and there's real excitement."

Pedro added that audiences are usually both surprised and delighted.

"Some people come to see the disability aspect but are surprised because they get to see a very good dance show" he explained, "and people who come for the dance are maybe surprised because they didn't think that dance could do that."