Dance - Vincent Dance Theatre

Vincent Dance Theatre, the group run by 38-year-old choreographer Charlotte Vincent, are more than just a contemporary dance troupe, as their name suggests. Their latest offering, which has had pretty universal rave reviews, mixes dance with live music and theatre. The group are known for their left-field approach, and Broken Chords breaks more rules than ever. In a recent interview in Article 19, Vincent betrayed her dislike of much of the stuff produced in the dance scene. “The feedback that we’ve got from Broken Chords has been very encouraging,” she says. “We’ve had people saying ‘I usually hate contemporary dance, and now you’ve encouraged me.’ For me that is praise indeed, because I don’t enjoy a lot of contemporary dance for the same reasons.”

Vincent’s latest offering is fruit borne of difficulty in her personal life. “All I knew when I set out on the project,” she says in the same interview, “is that there would be chairs, eight people and a load of sadness.” The chairs, which start in an ordered state and end up in a jumbled mess, are a metaphor for Vincent’s recent state of mind. But importantly, she has also been careful to reflect the humour that still lives within her. “It’s a dark reflection on loss and separation and a series of interruptions thwarts the self-indulgence of the contemporary dance element.” The New York Times said of the piece ‘Broken Chords was about the most harrowing yet inspiring transmutation of personal pain into artistic achievement that I have encountered.” AG