“Nothing in this first-ever Scottish performance by Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (DCC) is quite what you would expect – and that, along with the athletic energy and unstinting versatility of the dancers, makes this programme a lively introduction to a thoroughly likeable company.
Sombrisa, Itzik Galili’s new commission, sends everyone into combat against the pounding rhythms of Steve Reich’s Drumming Part I wearing … boxing gloves. Any contact between the sexes is, until the final, a rather tender moment when the gloves come off, devoid of hands-on touching. Yet this doesn’t really feel like any battle of the sexes. The lighting design, with descents into moody darkness, hints at more than a sporting workout but the repetitive motifs and playground games of leap-frog are outshone by the choreographic invention and social commentary in Mambo 3XXI by DCC’s George Cespedes.”
