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Dance

Lebrun, Another Look at Memory review ★★★★★

24 Oct 19 – 26 Oct 19, 19:30 Dur.: 1 hour no interval

Another Look at Memory at The Coronet Theatre marks London’s disconcerting first encounter with the French choreographer Thomas Lebrun

By Teresa Guerreiro on 26/10/2019

Thomas Lebrun, Another Look at Memory, photo Frédéric Iovino
Thomas Lebrun, Another Look at Memory, photo Frédéric Iovino
Lebrun, Another Look at Memory review 2 Lebrun, Another Look at Memory review Teresa Guerreiro
Thomas Lebrun is one of France’s most idiosyncratic contemporary choreographers with a diverse portfolio of works that range from disco-inflected to deeply romantic, covering autobiographical detail, love and gender.


For his first visit to the UK, staged by The Coronet Theatre, Lebrun picked Another Look at Memory, billed as a trip through 10 years of his choreography and performed by four dancers attuned to his ways: Maxime Aubert, Raphaël Cottin, Anne-Emmanuelle Deroo and Anne-Sophie Lancelin.


Always interested in 'the dialogue between dance and music', Lebrun chose for his musical score Philip Glass’s choral work Another Look at Harmony. Composed in the mid-70s, and scored for choir and electronic organ, this is minimalism at its most uncompromising: repeating the same short phrases over and over, with barely perceptive harmonic progression.


Three dancers in practice costumes, which seem to be de rigueur for much contemporary dance, line up on a stage divided into wide strips of dusty blue, light turquoise, white and grey, and respond to Glass’s score with impeccable precision and coordination. Arms rise slowly at precisely the same height, and are slowly lowered. One shoulder rises and falls, then the other. Torsos bend forward over soft knees.


So far, so promising. After a while they move forward with a determined, assertive stride and, now lined up downstage, repeat syncopated arm and torso movements, adding minute variations.


Eventually their lower bodies join in, the rhythmic structure of their movements remaining unchanged. One dancer peels off from the group and circles the stage, only to rejoin the collective dance. Another one follows. And another.


Three-quarters of the way into the piece a fourth dancer joins the group, which then dissolves, leaving him to perform an energetic solo, using the entire stage. All four join up for the finale.


There is no disputing Lebrun’s meticulous response to Glass’ music, but therein lie the work's various problems: as pumped through the Coronet’s slightly dodgy sound system,Another Look at Harmony is simply numbing and therefore alienating.


The dancers, entirely immersed in their own universe, never acknowledge the audience, as if they are dancing for themselves alone, closely guarding some secret which is definitely not for sharing.


It requires almost superhuman intent to remain focussed, engaged and interested. For all that it is short, this piece may well lose the interest of the audience before its hour was up.


by Teresa Guerreiro

What Lebrun, Another Look at Memory review
Where The Coronet Theatre, Print Room, 103 Notting Hill Gate, London, W11 3LB | MAP
Nearest tube Notting Hill Gate (underground)
When 24 Oct 19 – 26 Oct 19, 19:30 Dur.: 1 hour no interval
Price £25-£30 (concessions available)
Website Click here to book



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    Mazi serves an authentic, yet refined Greek menu a stone's throw from Notting Hill Gate. Don't expect to see pitta and humous -- which are Cypriot -- here! Instead order one of Mazi's particularly inventive cold jars, such as its delicious feta spread, which are accompanied by slivers of homemade bread.

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    Book Map

Thomas Lebrun

Another Look at Memory

Philip Glass

Another look at harmony

The Coronet Theatre

Maxime Aubert

Raphael Cottin

Anne-Emmanuelle Deroo

Anne-Sophie Lancelin



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