Goldens (from Dance Base) journeyed down from Edinburgh to join several hundred dancers at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of 'Dancing Voices' - a show involving 'older' dancers from the community, drawn from 11 groups around London on the 11th July.
It was amazing. And the experience of a lifetime. Watching the other groups during the dress rehearsal was uplifting, funny at times and quite staggering how Natasha Gilmore, with her team of young dancer/stage assistants dragooned several hundred oldies on and off with maximum efficiency, patience and good humour. Natasha is a brilliant choreographer and there were extraordinarily moving moments - in particular the opening when one dancer, with striking long silver hair in a pony-tail down her back, walked on stage with the aid of a stick then performed a stately arabesque. The full cast on stage for the finale then half of us walking into the audiorium and up the aisles was a terrific climax. The cheering from the audience matched by the elation of us dancers. Talk about adrenalin hit!
900 seats sold out. Part of Big Dance, Capital Age Festival, the South Bank's Festival of the World, oh and the Olympic cultural celebrations. Sigh, I doubt such an opportunity will come again for a long time. But wait a minute. We have to do it all again in Glasgow at the Merchant City Festival on 29th, though that will be rather less numbers - only Scottish groups and some invited guests from East London Dance. Could be fun though.
