Cumulonimbus and the Fable Keepers

When we enter the theatre, the dancers are already on stage, swaddled in tulle and curled up on the floor as if asleep.

Two large, white umbrellas hang from the ceiling, and along the back of the stage a clothes rack stands, hung with dresses and chemises in sky colours.  Books – old, hardcover, leather-bound – are everywhere. Scattered, stacked and lined up in rows.

A tall female figure in a white top hat and pantsuit, and a curious little ladder-like sash hanging from her waist, enters and stoops to touch each sleeping figure in turn, as if to wake them. The figures arise and trade their swaddling for one of the many costumes on the rack. The mode is serene, calm, quiet.

The performers communicate to each other using signs and gestures. Though the language they are using is unfamiliar to me, I can read the effort and intent put into the gestures well enough that the particular meaning of the movements becomes inconsequential.

In one of several movement sequences, the group of dancers repeat a phrase, some joining and others leaving at various points.  The movements are smooth and connected, with jumps, turns and reaches all executed with the same quiet self-assuredness of the other sections.

In my favourite moment, one dancer in a voluminous skirt holds out her hand in support of another who crosses the stage by stepping on the crouched backs of the other performers. The figures swathed in white remind me of clouds that the dancer treads on ever so softly.

At each shift in the piece, dancers walk to the clothes rack, and unselfconsciously disrobe to their underwear before putting on their next outfit. Roles move between performers, indicated through the leaving behind of dresses and eye glasses; another takes up the clothing – and position – of the first. The muted tones of the clothes, along with the moody lighting and piano and violin  music, all contribute to the meditation-like feel of the piece.

The evening ends as it began, with dancers re-wrapping themselves in tulle and curling up once more in front of the clothes rack.

Cumulonimbus and the Fable Keepers
Simcoe Contemporary Dancers
The Mady Theatre,
Barrie
October 24, 2015
Sarah Lochhead: artistic director
Susan Kendal: choreographer