Dance: Ricochet fetch up a treat

Louise Levene
Friday 29 May 1998 18:02 EDT
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"Originally I said 'I can't DO this!' " says Stephen Petronio when asked to make a piece for the five-strong Ricochet Dance Company (right). "I proposed doing it for three, with two understudies, but then... well, then I met them and I really LIKED them and I didn't want to leave anyone out. If anyone gets injured (God forbid) it'll be a quartet." In addition to work for his own company, the one-time bad boy of New York dance is 42 now and has grown rather used to working with the likes of Lyon Ballet and Deutsche Opera. He's relaxed about the big names "I do 95 per cent on my own company. I'm not a classical choreographer and it's a huge amount of money being spent and I have to meet their skills. It's not my preferred way of working but it's had some interesting results".

Ricochet is at the other extreme. The eight-year-old group makes a point of using cutting-edge choreography - Petronio's piece is in a double bill with Javier de Fruto's All visitors bring happiness, some by coming, some by going. Ricochet, directed by Kate Gowar and Karin Potisk, is a small company with big ideas. It's even smaller than Petronio's own group. "I haven't made something for such a small group before, but they're young and ambitious and I thought it would be really interesting.".

The 15-minute work, Fetch Boy Fox, is arranged as a triptych. The first section "is about limiting the body in some way to see what happens. The head is pinned to the chest the entire time. The second issue is about pursuit and the last part involves the pas de deux. I've been looking at the idea of the male as enabler for the female. The woman's the great filly and the male is the hitching post. I've always found it interesting to see how the male in the classical work stands around holding and gripping, but he's not supposed to be visible". A month might seem like a long time (if you're not a choreographer), but obviously not quite long enough. "I've made a solo for Kate in the first section; I don't know Kate's last name..."

Merlin Theatre, Frome (01373 465949) 30 May; Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon (0181-688 9291) 1 Jun

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