February 28th: Off Piste: Wasteland: Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome

Wasteland is a dance production presented by the Gary Clarke Company, and scheduled in its UK wide tour were two dates in the Patrick Studio - a performing theatre housed within the prestigious Birmingham Hippodrome. Just prior to the second performance commencing on the Friday night, the audience were greeted by the aforementioned organiser and choreographer to explain the circumstances behind the previous evening's cancellation. The bottom line was that the show had to go on and adjustments were made to go ahead this evening with a plea to be kind and sensitive to the performers. What followed over the next hour and a half was a marvellous performance from the assembled cast, primarily featuring though not exclusive to five dancers, and the challenge to any causal observer of what could have been different to the original planned piece. 

This production is rooted in the resistance people politics of the eighties and nineties focussing on the effects of the pits closing in Yorkshire and how the next generation seemed to hotfoot it into further controversy with the rave culture that spread across the region as the decades bound together. A huge slice of multi-media is incorporated into the performance with video clips used, in addition to the fleeting presence of twin brass players and the vocal content of four more cast members. This helped set the scene for the blistering movement performance of a solo dancer representing an afflicted miner losing his job in the mid-eighties and four younger performers, including the miner's son, encapsulating the next generation and their response to a dearth of opportunities. This culminated with the exposure of the Criminal Justice Bill in the mid-nineties and the reenactment of the new found 'enemy-within'. The politics of this show were quite explicit, just as the energetic way that Clarke choreographed his troupe to project the story in a totally high octane manner.

The core of the ninety minutes was housed within an extensive segment of rave music, perhaps a little off-piste for someone who viewed this musical phenomenon at that time of existing in some alternative universe. While it was essential in telling the story through movement and expression it still sent signals of a genre probably best left to the likes of others, with its in-your-face presence and sound. 

The rousing reception greeting those on stage at the end was full justification of the hard work, endeavour and certain amount of speculation required to make the adjustments successful. Making the effort to sample this exciting production from wherever you exist on the dance appreciation spectrum had its ample reward. Even if rave music was not and never will be your cup of tea, there was still something enriching to take home from Wasteland. Off-piste in small doses can energise artistic experience, though the nature of the term denotes that maybe some exposures are best kept to a minimum.