So many arrived for Thursday's performance by CandoCo Dance Company in Meeting House Square that extra chairs were required. During the interval between the two 20 minute pieces, however, the need was for umbrellas. As the downpour increased, most people retreated to sheltered, if more distant, viewing, but a dedicated few sat on, a great tribute to CandoCo and, in my case, one woman. Soaring to I'm Flying in the first piece, or in the second romping playfully with Stine Nilson and red-headed Kate Marsh (whose skill was such that I never noticed her missing hand) or in a series of lifts with Pedro Machado, Welly O'Brien was so beautiful to watch, her every movement sheer grace, that being a leg short was no matter.
Doug Elkins' Sunbyrne, a light-hearted series mainly of duets and trios, was the more successful piece. Set to three songs by David Byrne and five by the Beach Boys, such as Barbara Ann, reprised for the all-on finale, it opened with full cast moving in unison while seated, whether on stools or wheelchairs being barely discernible. I Hastened Through My Death Scene To Catch Your Last Act by Venezuelan Javier de Frutos, which preceded it, was based on a Tennessee Williams story and cast Jurg Koch, an able-bodied dancer, as the central boxed-in character. The choreography used much flailing and slicing arm movement with forward collapsing from the waist and, though it did express frustration and longing, it seemed as if the whole cast were largely limited to movement possible in a wheelchair. Though Suzanne Cowan and Andrew McLay both achieved fine partnering from their wheelchairs, these are so distracting in themselves that I found these dancers most effective when freed from them, despite the limitations. And though they showed great skill in partnering their disabled colleagues, the remaining dancers had no other remarkable talents.