The Ava Company - Provisional Landscapes, Lilian Baylis Theatre

Described by one critic as embodying “a powerful sexuality that feels both enticing and dangerous”  Spanish-born Avatâra Ayuso brings her visionary choreographies to London for the first time.
Inspired by the theme of migrations (see Sidebar interview), Provisional Landscapes consists of four pieces, where migrations provide the starting point for mediations on identity, transformation, personal space and “the other.”
Ayuso’s fertile mind gathers elements from her much travelled life (now based in London, she has toured extensively) to feed her incessant curiosity about human beings and their condition. In Balikbayan, for example, she draws on the experience of a Philippine migrant woman and her intense desire to regain her identity and sense of self.
The Ava Company consists of five outstanding dancers, including Ayuso herself, all finely attuned to the choreographer’s vision. Of Estela Merlos in Balikbayan Showtime wrote that she “contorted her body in all sorts of vicious positions,” while The Observer wrote of her “charismatic form.”
Another interesting fact is that although this programme, which has already toured in Europe, has received support from a number of cultural organisations, Ayuso also resorted to crowd-funding to help reach her required target.
Full disclosure: I was one of the “crowd.” And looking at this programme, I’d say it was well worth it….