And Now...

Choreographer Frank McConnell and his troupe Plan B are a brave bunch. To begin so incoherently, so aimlessly, is a bold move. The opening minutes of And Now... feel like being shouted at by dance. With neither form nor apparent function, bodies roll, chairs are moved, a toy penguin keeps falling off a chair and it's very important that it be put back in its place, repeatedly.

And then... a crystallising moment of commentary: "She's still finding her feet...she doesn't know whether she's coming or going." From this point, the movement slowly but surely begins to coagulate. Themes of position, power, agency begin to emerge. A balance begins to be struck between searching, unclear gestures and a more comfortable language of familiar spins and holds. Four young dancers jostle for position, communicating real personality in their set pieces, and a human dynamic emerges.

Nominally, And Now... is about the "yes, no, don't know" referendum on Scottish Independence held in September 2014, and the political awakening and space for debate this seems to have precipitated across the nation. Plan B's musing on this opts not to provide answers, instead taking an explorative approach. It's perhaps too symbolist it in places – chairs are clearly very important, but so central an image could be spelled out more clearly. Possibly there's 20 minutes of over-long exposition to be trimmed here. What's nice, though, is that the group never try to say more than the piece can support. Ensemble numbers that might try to make a grand statement never do: someone is always doing something divergent to undercut it – twirling a chair or taking a different line. 

Credit, too, must go to live saxophonist Steve Kettley. Like the dance, he sometimes offers melodic gestures that feel aimless – not helped by the fact that Jim Sutherland's soundtrack gets a bit carried away with the arpeggiator. But give him a sniff of a groove, and he hits it.