KCL Dance Show Review

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending KCL Dance Society’s annual show ‘Wonderland’ at the Greenwood Theatre. As a dance-show-novice and relatively opinionated person, I dared myself to embark on the ‘splendid adventure’ with no preconceptions, giving all those involved in the production the benefit of the doubt.

The show consisted of a series of positively surprising dance numbers, the diversity of which managed to make up for the lack of a coherent storyline. Loosely based on Alice in Wonderland, the overriding theme of the show was the fairy-tale world, with members of the audience thrown into a whirlwind of dances inspired by Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, Disney princesses and many others.

My innocent idea of Barbie has definitely been destroyed with the dancers’ targeting a more adult-minded audience- in a good way. One particularly enjoyable element of the show was the relatively successful attempt at fusing together different styles of dance; a distinctly memorable instance of this being the ‘bralsa’. Though perhaps at times we found ourselves as confused as fictional Alice, jumping suddenly from one act to another, perhaps the uncanny power of the production lay in the fact that it was capable of evoking such an assortment of emotions in the spectator.

It is important to acknowledge the immense amounts of time and effort which go into such a production, not only from the dancers but from all those who remain behind the scenes. The evening was of course a demonstration of talent from the dancers, however I was equally amazed by the choreography, costumes and carefully thought-out music selection.

An artist should always welcome constructive criticism and handle any on-stage mishaps with grace. This was definitely true of the KCL team, as despite the foreseeable room for improvement, the production was equally satisfying as a professional one. Over the course of the evening, I found myself making countless mental notes, telling myself that this particular number was my favourite, then changing my mind over and over. Eventually I gave up, realising that choosing was close to impossible.

As I made my way home that night, I considered the number of gifted people we are at university with, a fact of which many of us are not fully aware. Although we can debate the quality of the dancing in technical terms, we cannot fault any individual who performed on that stage for a lack of commitment to the art, and certainly not for an insufficiency of their ‘joie de vivre’.  What’s more, all proceeds from ticket sales went to a good cause, supporting three charities chosen by the society. They managed to raise over £7000 for Icandance, Parkinson’s CAN dance and The Robes Project. I strongly urge anyone reading to look out for upcoming events organised not only by the Dance Society, but by all performers at King’s; it will be a worthwhile experience.

A huge thank you and congratulations to all those involved.

To check out the Dance Society, their Facebook page has all the information you need.

 Photo Credits to Saj Khan