A pioneer in the professional integration of both able-bodied and disabled dancers, Candoco Dance Company was founded in the UK in 1991. In its name lies the statement of intent: a company, "co.," that, despite physical barriers, demonstrates that it can "do," can do.
Acclaimed from its inception by both the English public and critics, Candoco—led since 2007 by Stine Nilsen and Pedro Machado—has reached the heights of dance through tours conducted in sixty countries around the globe.
The secret to its success: the skill of its dancers and an exclusive repertoire created with the most prominent figures in contemporary dance. In recent years, Candoco has commissioned works from, among others, Stephen Petronio, Javier de Frutos, Rafael Bonachela, and Hofesh Shechter. These artists have produced very different performances: some have focused on highlighting inequalities, others have sought ways to ignore them, while others have worked to make the boundary imperceptible.
In 2011, in collaboration with the Trisha Brown Dance Company, Candoco challenged itself with a milestone of the contemporary repertoire: Set and Reset, created by Brown back in 1983, a foundational piece of American postmodern dance set to music by Laurie Anderson, with sets and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg.
Abigail Yager, a former dancer with Brown's company, transmitted the exact sequences of the original choreography to the dancers of Candoco, guiding them through a complex process of improvisation, the same process employed by the choreographer at the time of creation: the search for simplicity in movement, instinctive action, exploring limits, and working on the visible-invisible relationship. This resulted in Set and Reset/Reset, presented at the festival in memory of the great American artist who passed away in March, paired with a world premiere by Yasmeen Godder.
An Israeli choreographer with a striking style, Godder is a keen observer of the individual in the contemporary world. Themes such as identity and change are often woven into an unprecedented aesthetic vision that captivates and unsettles the audience, which are distinctive traits of her poetic work. In Face, she constructs an ode to life despite a wild and distorted world. A world that the dancers of Candoco know well and inhabit with ease: expressing joy in dancing, revealing themselves completely, and flirting with the banal and the ridiculous.
candoco.co.uk
