11:24am Friday 5th February 2010
By Ruth Meech
ONE of the county’s leading youth dance groups will be performing at the Bridport Arts Centre for the first time tomorrow.
The 15 young dancers making up Portrait will be staging their work Chasing Times as a curtain raiser for the Tavaziva Dance Company when they come to the venue to perform Wild Dog.
The piece is centred on the work of an athlete’s gruelling training programme ahead of a major tournament.
The Dorchester-based troupe – who are all working to become professionals – said the theme was inspired by a poem written by Gerrard Martin, one of the dancers from Tavaziva.
Rebecca Whaley, from Bridport, who recently joined the group, said: “Portrait gives me a great chance to broaden my dance skills and try new genres of dance. We have gelled really quickly as a company and can’t wait to show our work to Bridport, especially alongside such a prestigious dance company.”
Chasing Times was created in February last year during a four-day collaboration between Portrait and two dancers from the Bawren Tavaziva Dance Company.
Energetic and refreshing, Chasing Times aims to reflect the tenacity and hard work of an athlete’s sporting life.
Portrait’s rehearsal director Carly Reader added: “We now have new dancers who joined the company last October.
“It has been a challenge to rework the piece for 15 dancers instead of the initial 10 dancers in a short space of time, but great for the new members of the group to learn another dance style. We hope that Tavaziva Dance Company appreciate the result and are proud of the progress made by Portrait.”
Portrait, which is made up of young dancers aged between 14 and 21 years selected for the potential they show to progress as dance professionals, was formed in 2007.
The dance show is at Bridport Arts Centre tomorrow at 7.15pm. Tickets cost £10 plus concessions from the box office on 01308 424204.
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