A  selection of press and public comment about

                                Signdance Collective

                                              Plus           

            Reviews of the Current  Touring Production

                             BUT BEAUTIFUL 2006-2008

    “Signdance Collective's latest performance ‘But Beautiful’ rocks!  It must be their best yet.  I saw it on a warm June evening in a large tent in a Dorset field but David Bower's swaying and decadent drunk soon transported me to a hot and dusty USA.  As Isolte Avila slept slumped on the ground one almost expected a sweating Brando to appear bawling "STELLA!"  They are consummate actors within the dance and one is sucked into the violence, passion, agony and ecstasy of it all.  I can't hear music but the band was great to watch being an integral part of the dance.

 

SDC's speciality for incorporating dance on video into the performance using their "sculpting space" technique adds an extra dimension with arty video shot in Philadelphia in the first dance and Bower streaming the band with  camerawork in the second half.  Kevin Jewell is the latest deaf member of SDC. He towers above Avila being tall for a dancer and is a joy to watch as his facial expression and contortions are reminiscent of Basil Fawlty in their dance "jamming" sessions which are contained within a tiny taped out strip of stage.

 

This is the hottest show in Disability or Deaf Arts for some time.  You immediately want to see it again from the beginning and it stays etched on your brain for days afterwards.” Maggie Woolley, Artgenies, June 2006

 

 ... Improvisation, jazz and SDC go together like silk and pearls .  With a history of lively melodies that shoot off on surprising tangents , jazz has a fluidity that the most experimental pop DJ can only dream of . This complements SDC's creative ethos perfectly', transforming their unique synthesis of film, mime , dance , dance ,signlanguage , gesture and body language into a stunningly  mellifluous language that defies articulation'

Mellisa Motsyn Disability Arts on Line  February 07

 

This dissonant , experimental portrait of the life of American alto saxophonist , Art Pepper , from Signdance Collective, (Warehouse Theatre London) led by deaf and physically disabled artists is tantalizing . David Bower as the heroin-addled, late-fifties-louche Pepper leans against a standing piano, greeting 
the same pal in the crowd over and over again. Bower signs his 
speech as well as yells it, creating a dance of body and word that 
illustrates with pinpoint accuracy the terrifying dislocation of his 
mind in the late-night mêlée of his addictions. The music, from the 
stupendously talented Luke Barlow follows him note by note into the 
deliberate, solitary minor key of Pepper’s damaged genius........

Creator and director Garry Robson is able to use 
the company’s disabilities to speak about music and harmony in novel 
and pertinent ways.. The  talent on display here is undeniable

 Time Out London June 07

 

....It is quite unique to see and hear storytelling with a jazz band as evocative as the songs and the acting of David Bower’s Art Pepper and Isolte Avila’s Dianne Pepper. There is a special dedication to this company and an individual identity in that the songs, dance and jazz players all blend in a oneness that is an ensemble never seen before. It is a company of artists who travel all over Europe and are a welcome surprise for London. (Warehouse theatre )

Empty Space Studio London  June 07

 

 

'Performing with irrepressible spirit under appalling conditions ..The wettest day of August , perhaps the whole summer, but SDC simply turned this obstacle into another layer of  the drama (For But Beautiful) the weather becoming further refection of Art Pepper's  bitter-sweet life,

...A celebration of of Pepper's musical achievements . Sure , there is still the womanizing , the drugs, and prison, but above all it's the jazz. Strong areas of improvisation throughout provide a transparant stimulation which is as exciting

for the audience as it must be for the performers...

 

Bower has a deep , strong and personal style of dance-mime, that reflects the unflinching individuality of the artist. Equally talented is Isolte Avila who exudes a vibrant , charismatic enthusiasm and energy , her movement & signing ever expressive.  Plus....

  

The unendingly inventive percussion of Mark Holub and luke Barlow on Saxophone who brilliantly plays Art's alter ego. Santiago Horro and Liran Donin  are both on double bass, and guitar . The Luke Barlow band  are on equal footing with the dance and theatre , there is a remarkabe energy exchange between all elements , in which the whole is greater than the parts '

 STAGE FURTHER, South West Scotland August 2007

 

 

 

To the world, David Bower is best known as the deaf character in the
film ''Four Weddings and a Funeral,'' the sensible brother who helps put
Hugh Grant's shaky character on more solid ground. To the world of the
hearing impaired, he is best known as the artistic director of Signdance
Collective, an English company that uses pretty much everything -- sign
language, movement, giant puppets -- to tell the stories of a death-row
prisoner, a Shakespearean noble savage and others with emotional handicaps.

Signdance's current production is ''But Beautiful,'' a prismatic
portrait of Art Pepper, the late alto saxophonist who created brilliant
music while addicted to alcohol, heroin and women. Bower, who was born
deaf in Wales, plays Pepper by dancing, miming and yelling. With a
hand-held camera he shoots his alter ego, saxophonist Luke Barlow, who
performs Pepper's compositions and use improvisation. Isolte Avila,
Signdance's dance director, plays Pepper's wife, Dianne, onstage and in
video footage shot on the streets of Philadelphia,

''But Beautiful'' was a keystone of ''Independence Starts Here,'' 
 incredible energy, unpretentious choreography and total security as  dancers turning universal impairments into multi-media extravaganzas.

The Morning Call Philadelphia PAH! Festival
November 4 2007

 

West Belfast Festival August 2007 Audience and Venue Feedback.

"By including the audience in the very fabric of the show and using the entire theatre space, showcased to the audience the creative experience theatre can offer ,altogether, a brilliant night out !"Margaret McKernan FeileBelfast

"Excellent" West Beslfast

"Great to see the deaf language used and so accesible"very entertaining" Belfast

"Absolutely fabulous.. great music, wondeful drama, and creative production . Lovely to see accessible and creative theatre"West Belfast

"Well done Signdance , well done Margaret! *Festival D.A organizer , utterly fantastic Belfast

"Absolutely Beautiful, thankyou for putting it on , All people together Slan Go  foille" Belfast 

"Go on, Beautiful work!, Excelent show. Superb" Canada

"Brilliant ,Art inspired" Armagh

"Very good , something new" East Belfast

 “The musicians and dancers gave a sublime performance and dealt with the darker elements of Art Pepper's life with real passion, empathy and grace.  I don't really know what I was expecting, but the quality of this performance blew me away….I left Holton Lee bursting with avid debate and thoughts about what we had just experienced.  I also thought it was amazing how even though my knowledge of signing is limited - I still understood everything that was going on and became acutely aware that I was interpreting the performance through a wide range of non-verbal communication”, Marianne Scahill, Arts in the Community Officer, Poole, June 2006

 “Over the years I've seen many performances of many forms both as an audience member and as a journalist and I have to say that SDC and Luke Barlow ranks along with the best…I was particularly impressed and moved by the SDC piece not just in its form and setting but in the narrative that underpinned it, simply stunning.  Luke and his band were equal to the task of being the follow on and gave a performance that would have satisfied the most demanding audience, top quality musicianship, deft composition and powerful performances all round.  The entire evening was truly memorable", John Russell, Willingdon Community School, Eastbourne, May 2006

 "Fabulous   performance", Director, Liberty Festival, Trafalgar Square, London, 2005

"The Jazz Signdance Collective’s tribute to Art Pepper, ‘But Beautiful’, was a powerful hybrid of jazz, dance and physical theatre that hooked the audience.   The Luke Barlow Band was surprising and wonderful - carcrash jazz, controlled anarchy, what you will",

WightVibe at the Isle of Wight Jazz Divas Festival, April 2006

 "Working with Signdance Collective has been a positive experience from  start to finish . David  and Isolte have created work , that would suggest it was the result of a  full production team  working around the clock for months to produce. However , I know  that it is not a full  team working around the clock- It is the result of tireless dedication of David and Isolte together. And that is what really impresses. Their show "But Beautiful" has such a sofisticated intergration of technology, signing , dance,  and music , combining to produce an emmotive and abstracted  insight int the life of Art Pepper, his music , and the woman who loved him.  Both performances from David and Isolte struck chords of understanding , pain, illumination, and play. With their skillful expression of Art Pepper's chaotic Jazz world . The audience feedback was overwhelmingly positive"

Dawn Fleming Jackson's Lane, London

  More Reviews and comments on SDC 

"Over the years the two lead dancers in SDC, Isolte and David, have developed an uncanny sensitivity to each other as performers and a freedom, flexibility and openness to treat any story as a possibiity for interpretation, and any space as a stage.  This coupled with the universality of their unique fusion of sign and movement and development of massive improvisational skills, allows them to take risks in their performance style, settings and locations, which have gained them an international reputation and made them ideal to work with us on a piece about the 'jazz soul' of Art Pepper that would have at its core, 'the music of the passing moment'." Garry Robson, Fittings Multimedia Arts

 

"Unexpected experience of aesthetic beauty.....Wonderful!" Arts and Business,  Relics @ Royal Festival Hall, London, 2004

 

"Fractured Fairytales was a delight.  The Ucheldre audience warmed to the return visit of Signdance founders Isolte Avila and David Bower, in their inimitable sign dance style.  Full of innovative movement, striking design, live camera usage, and a clever use of space, the presentation evolved into a fantastic potpourri", David Crystal, Director, 2004

 

"The dance theatre is both beautiful and emotionally charged!" Lunion Estate, Italy, 2004

 

"Engaging, flamboyant.....striking!"  The Hindu, Mumbai, 2003

 

"Exceptional dance theatre!!" Wiz Awards, Mumbai, India, 2003

 

"Internationally acclaimed Sign Dance Theatre pioneers, creating a buz", The Big Issue, 2003

 

"Other companies might use sign language and dance, but for the Signdance Collective it forms the basis of the choreography...delighting audiences... entertaining and challenging", Metro, Manchester, 2002

 

"The work is (about) the aching need for human connection in the miasma of indifference which shrouds us today", The Hindu, Mumbai, 2002

 

                         "Atavistic and brilliant", The Scotsman, 2002

 

Reviews and comments on the art of signdance,

created by Isolte Avila

"Poetry of the Body", Bill Harpe, The Guardian, 1987

"Dance and sign combines to startling effect...feverish and poignant"  (Isolte Avila's work for the Signdance Theatre Trust which she established and developed).  Yorkshire Post, 1999

 

"Dance Theatre at its most powerful and emotive....beautiful and sensual", BBC Radio, 1998

 

 

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