The Hangman

Male dancer has his back o the camera crouching down with his feet wide apart. His arms are held in front and is staring at a female dancers wearing a black leotard standing to the right. She is holding her left leg with her left arm and has it close to her ear.

Sarah Michelson choreographs a performance full of grandeur with quirky costumes and an interesting use of space.

Inspired by her Swan Lake for Transitions Dance Company, Candoco approached three times winner of the New York Bessie Dance Awards, Sarah Michelson, to make a piece for the company. Manchester born Sarah’s style draws on the traditions and conventions of modern dance-making yet adds a fresh, often unpredictable take. A choreographer who is determined to ask questions and engage with the time she lives in, Sarah believes in engaging and empowering performers through her work while probing dance’s status quo. She thinks in grand scale even for small projects and is interested in people without being sentimental.

Michelson’s work is all about balance. I can’t remember seeing a more deliberately gruelling dance work, one which seemed designed to punish the dancers. Had they perhaps offended her in rehearsals? When asked this in the Q&A session afterwards, the dancers laughed but admitted that Michelson’s rigour pushed them to their limits every night.
Jennie Macfie for HI Arts, September 2010