WORKS

The Hangman

By Sarah Michelson
2010
Sarah Michelson choreographs a performance full of grandeur with quirky costumes and an interesting use of space.

Inspired by her Swan Lake for Transitions Dance Company, Candoco approached three times winner of the New York Bessie Dance Awards, Sarah Michelson, to make a piece for the company. Manchester born Sarah’s style draws on the traditions and conventions of modern dance-making yet adds a fresh, often unpredictable take. A choreographer who is determined to ask questions and engage with the time she lives in, Sarah believes in engaging and empowering performers through her work while probing dance’s status quo. She thinks in grand scale even for small projects and is interested in people without being sentimental.

Michelson’s work is all about balance. I can’t remember seeing a more deliberately gruelling dance work, one which seemed designed to punish the dancers. Had they perhaps offended her in rehearsals? When asked this in the Q&A session afterwards, the dancers laughed but admitted that Michelson’s rigour pushed them to their limits every night.
Jennie Macfie for HI Arts, September 2010
… stylish, phenomenally muscular, requiring extraordinary strength and a superb addition to the repertory…
Dancing Times

 

Production details

Choreography, Co- Lighting Design & Co- Costume Design

Sarah Michelson

Co- Lighting Design

Chahine Yavroyan

Co- Costume Design

Debbie Thomas

Composer

Pete Drungle

Dancers

Bettina Carpi, Darren Anderson, Chris Owen, Annie Hanauer, Elinor Baker, Victoria Malin, Dan Daw

Year

2010

Running Time

35 minutes

Journal