Ghost dancers rise again

by Margaret Chrystall

ONE of the highlights of the Rambert dance company’s latest visit to Eden Court will be the revival of choreographer Christopher Bruce’s chilling 1981 Ghost Dances.

As well as appearing in Tomorrow – inspired by Macbeth – Adam Park will appear as one of the Ghost Dancers – or White Ghosts – in Bruce’s piece triggered by the fear and murder of early 1980s South America..

The Ghost Dancers bring death and are dressed as sinister skeleton men with skull masks and long matted hair in the piece which is set to South American folk music and also features ordinary people trying to live with courage in the scary times of Chile’s Pinochet regime.

Adam – who sometimes also dances the ‘ordinary’ people in the piece – said: "There are moments of happiness and beautiful dancing, then the music will cut out and, just when you’ve almost forgotten about them, the Ghost Dancers reappear.

"It’s really exhausting, Chris’s work tends to be incredibly physically challenging.

"I’ve danced in Rooster – one of his pieces which is this fantastic feelgood riot – it was great fun to dance and completely different.

"Ghost Dances has some funny moments and there are moments of lightness, but it always comes back round to its dark inspiration.

"To dance it is great.

"A lot of the works we do here are not entirely story-driven, and Ghost Dances – though it doesn’t have a story within it – is very clearly inspired by the Pinochet oppression in South America.

"Physically it is absolutely exhausting – and emotionally so as well – because you are sometimes dancing representing people who were real."

The piece channels imagery from the Day of the Dead and was created by the choreographer when he received a letter from the widow of a Chilean folk singer who had been tortured and murdered by Pinochet’s forces in Chile.

Adam appears in all three of the Rambert pieces, including Tomorrow, which sees Lucy Guerin working from the story of Macbeth.

The stage is divided in two with dancers on one side only moving their hands – Adam is one of those.

He explained how the movements evolved: "We took some core movements, such as having a conversation with someone, the small movements you do with your hand – touching your face or scratching your head.

"And we acted them out, but with no emotion whatsoever.

"On the other side of the stage, the dancers are called The Witches as Lucy’s idea is that she sees the witches as controlling the story, almost like puppeteers."

Adam comes from Newcastle and laughs to confirm that yes, he’s often compared to Billy Elliot, the dancing hero of the film and stage play.

"I don’t mind, it’s completely harmless," he said.

It didn’t help that when he was picked to join the Rambert dance school in London as a teenager, the local paper dubbed him "Twinkletoes".

But he’s glad to have stayed on with the company.

"It’s been wonderful to come through from the school and grow with the company as well.

"The main thing that keeps me interested is we constantly have new choreographers coming to work with us.

"And it’s nice to dance onstage with people you know well and have a bond with."

He also appreciates the chance to tour to places like Inverness.

"If people ask ‘Why do we go to this small town?’ in the back of my head I remember when I was young absolutely loving when Rambert came to Newcastle.

"So I say ‘I guarantee there will be people thrilled we’re here!’."

Rambert comes to Eden Court tonight and tomorrow (Wednesday and Thursday, February 15 and 16) at 7.30pm.

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