As part of its 25th anniversary year, one of the aims of Diversions Dance Company is to raise its international profile. Mike Smith joined the dancers on their debut tour to Bilbao. Here he shares his diary of life on the road
IT’S 8am on a chilly morning in Wales and two minibuses leave Cardiff for Stansted, a two-hour flight and the sunshine of Bilbao.
Diversions Dance Company are waving the cultural flag again.
Technical director Joe Fletcher is already on his way, the Diversions lorry loaded up with everything to stage two pieces of international choreography: Itzik Galili’s Peeled and Stephen Petronio’s Strange Attractors – pieces that Diversions have now taken to audiences in Wales, Ireland, England and Italy.
In the past, Wales and the Basque city traded in iron ore and scrap metal. Now in Diversions’ 25th anniversary year it is polished silver. But that silver has to be refined when it arrives at the former metals and ship building city.
The venue – Euskalduna Palace – is a stroll along the Nervion River from the Guggenheim Museum. A stunning building, encasing a vast iron box, with iron sculptures, pyramids of iron ore and bold vistas shows what a city can achieve when its pride in its past embraces its confidence for its future.
That first night the Diversions team takes the beautiful walk along the river to Bilbao’s old town to join the throngs of eating tapas, drinking wine and relaxing.
Work begins the next day. Rehearsal Director Jo Fong takes the 10 hand-picked international dancers through classes in a studio before they set foot in the actual dance space: the 600-seater theatre. This is no get off the plane, rehearse, perform, and get back on the plane exercise.
Meanwhile the gargantuan technical manoeuvre is in full swing. There are, of course, challenges. The lighting rig cannot be lowered in this venue so every light has to be hauled by rope into position – and there are 35.
The dancers work from 2pm to 9pm on Saturday with those classes and rehearsals. That night some have the energy to find a bar where a Basque band and locals join in traditional singing. Others are so tired they fall into a restaurant and then their beds.
On Sunday they are in the performance space and rehearse from lunchtime until 6pm with a two hour break to eat, rest and change.
The stage is wide but slightly shallow. At one point in rehearsal, dancer Maria lets out a “wow” as the dancers spin in a line as she veers towards the front.
“Don’t worry he’s got you,” choreographer Jo says calmly, as fellow dancer Karol holds her by the waist.
Jo sits with the company’s artistic director Ann Sholem and takes copious notes as the dancers run through Peeled. Sections are repeated after both collective and one-to-one coaching. Ann also gets on to the stage and gives individual guidance. And some of the dancers with experience of the piece talk to the new members of the company.
All the time a small band of Spanish technical staff are working with Diversions to adjust the lights and spot where stray beams are appearing from and adjusting sound levels that vary considerably in the auditorium.
Jo later repeats some of the original aims of the work – including for the women to be slightly masculine, the men to show their feminine side, a little bit of ambiguity.
As the minutes and hours tick away, it’s time for the girls to discuss different looks.
During the short rest periods throughout the day, dancers sit either in their dressing room or enjoy a few minutes in the outdoor warmth. The food is salad, bottled water, fruit, although the odd cigarette, chocolate bar and bottle of Diet Coke make an appearance.
After that final rehearsal of the curtain calls, plates of tapas appear in the dressing room. Ann heads for a quick coffee and a look through the spring schedule for the company. There are notes on the new dance which choreographer Nigel Charnock will be creating with Diversions when this season finishes.
Back to the venue to check the front of house arrangements. The relaxed Sunday evening audience pleasantly spreads across the venue. Darkness. Then Petronio’s Strange Attractors opens the programme.
Copper sheets line the walls reflecting the ship building history of the city and the glorious lighting of Stephen Petronio’s Strange Attractors. Every venue, every performance is different.
The audience seem quite cool but after Galili’s fabulous Peeled and the final curtain call they explode into enthusiastic applauding, whistling and cheering. Another hit.
The company members are asked to sign one of the promotional boards they had created for the visit – the other is added to the tonnage that the technical crew painstaking add to the pile that has to be loaded onto the lorry after the show before they can head for a well deserved drink.
It’s then farewell to the Bilbao hosts over a drink in a local bar. Later the dissection of the evening’s performances begins.
Did we have the pieces in the right order? Should we present these two particular pieces together? But the euphoria is evident. And the dancers just want to unwind, eat and have a drink.
It’s then off to bed, or to pack, or even to see a little Bilbao before the flight home.
Diversions will be at Theatr Hafren in Newtown on Thursday and Friday . The box office number is 01686 625007.
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