THE thrill offered by CeDeCe's tour of Ireland is the opportunity to savour the work of five different choreographers of modern dance performed by a streamlined company. The performance at the Firkin Crane saved the best for last, with Gagik Ismailian's Mecanica demanding receiving terrific concentration from this young Portuguese company. Designed to the music of Leitmotiv - Voyagers en Parallele - the piece explores the mutual musical and physical dynamic in terms of spatial relationships.
Narrative is not an issue with these works, which are driven by music rather than theme. This gives the style sharpness instead of depth but also allows the dancers to reveal, and revel in, their various strengths. Other choreographers are Ana Sendas (who is also one of the dancers), Olga Roriz, Antonio Rodrigues (founder of the company and responsible for much of the lighting, which achieves good visual perspective) and Vasco Wellenkamp. Although there is much that is technically elegant about Rodriguez's own work Taichi Modern Dance, it is Vasco Wellenkamp's Serenode which emphasises the range of talent within the company as the Elgar based pas de deux embraces the classical tradition with stunning finesse.
