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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Sarah Frater's rating
Reader rating
Description: The acclaimed musical choreographer and Company present a mixed bill of new work and familiar pieces from the ever-growing repertoire. Green In Blue is Oguike's first foray into jazz.
Phone: 0871663 2500
Website: www.southbankcetre.co.uk
Extra info: Telephones, Food, Pub, Air Conditioning
Lesson in allure: Chihiro Kawasaki in Little Red
As well as being an able young choreographer, Henri Oguike is also a charismatic performer. The half-Nigerian, half-Welsh one-time dancer with Richard Alston, appeared in his own Expression Lines, a short solo that had you yielding like nothing else on this four-part programme.
Oguike is both feline and emphatic, ground based and airy, strong as steel and as silky as kittens. Movement flows out of his shoulders and hips. His body cantilevers at the waist, then he lunges and folds, turns and switches back, with different moves pulsing out of different bits of his body, sometimes in isolation, then all at the same time.
You would call it polycentrism if you wanted to get technical, but the effect is strangely spiritual, almost devotional, engaging the soul as much as the intellect.
Expression Lines is drenched in amber light, intentionally evoking the sunbaked hues of the Sahara, an effect reinforced by the music, a guitar solo by Ali Farka Toure, the "Bluesman of
Africa", as he was called. It is a potent piece of dance, suggesting a quiet humanity despite its essentially plotless form.
In comparison, the two new pieces, Little Red and Green in Blue, and the new-ish Tiger Dancing feel restless, with almost too much ingenuity, too many ideas for one night, although that's not to say they're unappealing.
With its tickling fingers and yearning necks, Little Red is a lesson in allure. The red leather and sequin costumes do no harm. The sinuous curves of Green in Blue are also a template for flirtation, something helped by the music played live by jazz-man Iain Ballamy.
The jungle-dreamy Tiger Dancing completes the programme. All is ably done, with vigour and delight, only you sense rush. It's almost as if Oguike is too busy for his ideas to settle.
Tonight only (0871 663 2585).
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
