Sunderland University at The Customs House
11 May 2011.
My third visit of the week to see what the students have created in their time at University, takes me back into the realms of dance.
Turn It Up A Little Bit is modelled on a night out on the town. Starting of course at the very beginning of the evening, the students form groups to apply make up and fuss on with what to wear and hairstyling techniques. Some great routines surrounded this, dancers on all fours creating seats for the soon to be beautiful was a great spectacle to be seen.
Soon it was time to go for the troupe, The Metro journey to the city was the next port of call. All safely on board the dancers create a spectacle of movement, with the rhythm of the train ride spurring on the cast, the swinging on the hand posts (we have all done that!) and the excitement of what lies ahead take affect. Some dazzling scenes from the crew was thoroughly enjoyed by the Customs House audience, which included Sunderland actress Melanie Hill, who has been recently seen in BBC1's 'Candy Cabs'.
The show takes us to various aspects of the night, which included meetings at parties, the drugs scene, people watching, games and the inevitable 'not feeling too well, I shouldn't have drunk that last drink'. At some stage I remarked that maybe a Donner Kebab van could have made the scene complete! As with my last dance review I am not that familiar with the names of the routines or the movements that they contain, but some mighty fine agility was created. Laura Williams pulled off some fine moves including a great jump that ended with the splits, and only male performer Patrick Ngabonziza was very nimble on his feet. His collaboration with Alexandra White within the playful duet section was very memorable. Sophie Craggs did some great rolls and the high kicks, cartwheels and pas de chat's (Thanks Laura for the help in the naming of that routine) from all of the cast was lovely to see. The section of The End Of The Night, saw all of the crew come together for a final massive burst of energetic swishing and swaying.
I set out at the start of the week being a little scared of dance and the understanding of it, but with this review and my initial foray into this art, the students have left me hungry for more. When the curtain closed at the end of the performance, I was elated, not only for what I had seen but for everybody who had put so much hard work into it.
Plenty more performances from the students are still available, please view The Customs House website.
Michael Hunter
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