Candoco Dance Company Review ★★★★★

Candoco Dance Company have been highlighting disability in dance since 1991. They are renowned for their unique work that challenges perceived norms with creativity and often humour, and includes both disabled and able-bodied dancers.

Let’s Talk About Dis by the visual artist Hetain Patel, premiered in 2014. The work has had time to settle within the group, and is now delivered slickly and with confidence by company members new and old.

It’s a piece that lacks in movement content, but makes up for it in the amusing and witty use of spoken word and sign language. Nine performers sit in a line on chairs upstage, with two microphones downstage. The cast take it in turns to tell their stories and have the conversations many are too afraid to have, as well as addressing the stupidity inherent in our own political correctness.

Danish Toke Broni Strandby assuredly leads a rowdy segment with the exuberant Frenchwoman Laura Patay, who tells a story about her missing arm and people’s natural curiosity around it. Strandby translates the story into English, but chooses to interpret Patay’s disability by likening it to how some are tall and some are ‘less tall’.

Strandby is in turn signed by Andrew Graham, who awkwardly stuffs one arm in his pocket, suggesting his hyper-awareness of his colleague's disability. ‘Mate, stop that,’ objects Strandby, who pulls the arm out. It ends in the absurd realisation that the only one not embarrassed is Patay, who poses confidently centre stage.

The likeable cast are never slow to poke fun at themselves. One able-bodied dancer laments the fact she has been with the company two- and-a-half years and has only just been included in the poster, likely because she has all her limbs, she reflects.

It’s a shame the movement is largely missing in this piece, as the stories are well structured. Some cohesive movement as one unified group despite their differences would have worked nicely, but Patel’s work is still a mighty entertaining thirty minutes.

It’s surprising then, that Yasmeen Godder’s Face In feels at odds with the sentiments and humour highlighted in the Patel piece. It’s an intense work filled with contrasting colour and exploring evolving relationships.

Face In features duets and solos choreographed using uneven, awkward movements to a monotone score that later transforms into something more upbeat and celebratory.

Two women share a turbulent, violent relationship. There are recurring motifs where one bites the other’s foot and pulls at her clothes. There is snatched dialogue and frequent gasping and panting as the pace intensifies. If Godder set out to disturb her audience, then it’s hard to deny her success in this unpredictable new effort.

Candoco’s strength lies within their ability to storytell. Those new to their distinctive brand of dance may find Godder’s distorted world a step too far, but Patel’s humorous take on identity is an accessible and likeable vehicle to showcase these talented all round performers.