NDCWales shows Christopher Bruce’s Dream

Published: 14 July 2020
Reporter: Vera Liber

Dream by Christopher Bruce Credit: Andy Ross

On Friday 24 July, the day that should have been the Opening Ceremony for the 2020 Olympics in Japan, National Dance Company Wales will be showing its 23-minute film of Dream by Christopher Bruce CBE on Facebook and YouTube.

Originally commissioned as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Dream was performed as part of Dance GB in 2012 then went on to tour the UK and China later that year. The piece is full of references to bygone school sports days and street parties which involved mums, dads and neighbours embarrassing their children in the egg-and-spoon and sack races and is set to Ravel’s Bolero and Lent, the last movement of Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, climaxing with the second movement from Penillion by Welsh composer Grace Williams.

Choreographer Christopher Bruce CBE wrote in his original programme notes, “with the London 2012 Olympics taking place in the Queen’s Jubilee year, I found myself thinking back to celebratory street parties in the early 1950s.

"The training of athletes and dancers has many similarities, but as with all competitors and performers, it begins with a dream which they have to work hard to realise. So, this is a recognition of two important events in British life, the 2012 Olympics and the Jubilee. However, it is a celebration of the sheer enjoyment of highly physical movement in all its forms.”

Associate Director Lee Johnston, who was a dancer in Dream in 2012, said, “Dream was an absolute joy to create and perform. As Ravel’s Bolero builds, so did the visceral thrill of both the dancers and audience. We could feel everyone dancing each movement with us as we sprinted from swimming to rowing to tennis, anticipating when laughter and applause could no longer be contained and would burst out across the auditorium.”

Also performing are Neus Gil Cortés, Annabeth Berkeley, Camille Giraudeau, Eleesha Drennan, Naomi Tadevossian, Gareth Mole, Joe Perou, Matteo Marfoglia, and Nicholas Bodych.

Dream will also be available on NDCWales’ Digital Hub for 2 weeks.

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