Awakenings goes from book to film to Venue Cymru ballet

Sep 23 2010

AUTHOR Oliver Sack’s moving and emotive masterpiece Awakenings, and a Hollywood movie starring Robin Williams, might not be an obvious inspirational theme for ballet, but then ground- breaking dance company Rambert have rarely stepped safely into the obvious.

Yet even by Rambert’s innovative standards this true story of an early 20th century flu pandemic – with sleeping sickness at the heart of the plot – along with the victim’s apparent rescue by the imagination and foresight of one man, is indeed a challenge.

But it is one that fills choreographer Aletta Collins with a sense of excitement, tinged with trepidation.

Aletta, whose Welsh-born grandmother and many of her family still live in the region, is more than pleased that the Wales premiere of her new dance is one of the first performances.

Aletta said: "We are right in the middle of rehearsals and I feel we are beginning to sense the excitement of the new dance. And yes, I am proud that after its premiere at The Lowry in Salford, we take the new work to Llandudno.

"At first it may appear a negative story but it is one full of humanity," she said.

"It has been discovered that these people were not still, but moving quickly in a way not always visible. There is deep humanity in the story.

"It took a little while but we soon reached a point in rehearsals when the dancers could feel we were beginning to find something warm and filled with humanity, that we were interpreting a complex and human story for the stage," she enthuses.

Aletta added: "I love my Welsh links, and am always happy when I visit."

The flu pandemic of 1918 killed up to 100 million people worldwide – about 5% of the human race – making it the worst pandemic in recorded history.

The "Spanish" flu attacked mostly healthy young adults, and was followed by a mysterious sleeping sickness that affected a further five million people.

Of those, about a third died, while the remaining two thirds lived on, but often in strange somnolent states.

Many of them were virtually frozen, like human statues, for decades. In 1969 Dr Sacks, then a young doctor in New York, encountered a few dozen of these survivors and gave them an experimental drug that enabled many to "awaken" after 50 years of immobility.

Awakenings will have its world premiere at The Lowry in Salford on Wednesday and the company brings the new dance to Llandudno’s Venue Cymru next month.

At Salford Awakenings will be part of a three-dance evening that will include at Hush by Christopher Bruce and Merce Cunningham’s RainForest. In Llandudno Rain Forest will be replaced by Galili’s A Linha Curva.

Ballet Rambert, Venue Cymru, Llandudno, Oct 1-2, tickets 01492 872000, or log on to www.venuecymru.co.uk