Blind Passion Reviews

Blind Passion - Live Cut

London Feb/March 2010

"We were excited to have the opportunity to watch Slanjayvah Dance's Blind Passion again. Choreographer, Jenni Wren is dancing with a new partner, Riccardo Meneghini. This new coupling sees this intense duet develop. Its three stages are now explicitly different in tone. The first, when mostly clothed, is flirtatious and sexy. The blindfolds come out and it's suddenly a sensual game, testing the limits of trust but still perhaps holding back. Once finally stripped down to the bare essentials, it's a serious business. The acrobatic and passionate interaction of the pair shows 100% trust in each other and total commitment, to the point where the risk in dancing blind, is tensely apparent." - Lindsey Clark: Editor, The Londonist

In the programme note choreographer Jenni Wren quoted ‘passion cannot be described only experienced' and this is true of Slanjayvah Danza's Blind Passion -Live Cut. Wren has created an explosively seductive yet non-erotic duet. The seamless fusion of contemporary and tango enthralled the audience. There is a constant strength behind the movement and the dancers combine powerful lifts with unyielding eye contact until the beautifully timed introduction of blindfolds. In a moment of suspense Meneghini grabs Wren by the face and throws her across the stage; a daring lift executed with extreme poise and strength (accompanied by a small gasp by the person sat next to me). With no added drama needed, Blind Passion choreographically allows for muscle tensing suspense for the audience; do not pass up the opportunity to see this work. - Laura Bridges: Cloud Dance Festival: Trouble and Desire, Saturday 27 March

Powerful and seductive Slanjayvah Danza's Blind Passion is quite literally that; a fiery display of intricate Tango and Contemporary acrobatics, danced blindfolded by skilled performers and choreographers, Jenni Wren and Phil Sanger ...The strength and control of the pair is outstanding, the movement of their handsome limbs enough to make the most accomplished contemporary dancer envious." - Jennifer Teale: Resolution 2010, The Place, London

"Slanjayvah's Blind Passion, a sensual tease of a dance that delivered exactly what it said on the tin, ... Jenni Wren and Phil Sanger danced the work with an expert, unsighted feel for each other's movement..." - Graham Watts: Resolution 2010, The Place, London

"...a huge hit. ...an impressively fresh piece and I'm sure will be in the rep for a long time - it certainly deserves to be seen by many more." - Bruce Marriot: Ballet.co.uk

Slanjayvah Danza's Blind Passion - Live Cut was back by popular demand, and it's not hard to see why it's so popular - Jenni Wren's choreography is performed by dancers who gradually shed their clothing to near-nakedness and at the same time they blindfold themselves, resulting in the most vulnerable situation a person can be in. Through this challenge they perform daring and complex movements, which would be technically difficult and spectacular acts for any non-blindfolded dancer, as well as keeping hold of raw sensuality with which they interact and intertwine. Stunningly beautiful and breathtakingly expressive. - Debbie Shine: Ballet Magazine

Last seen at CDF's Parade in 2009, Slanjayvah Danza brings us Blind Passion, a duet daring in more ways than one. Beginning with smooth, tango-inspired moves, sometimes rotated around the body or onto the floor, the work takes on a new dimension of intimacy when the dancers remove their (already skimpy) vest tops and don blindfolds. The blindness stands both for sensuousness - deprived of sight, the dancers can only sense and respond to one another's touch - and for profound trust between the pair. There's a thrilling build in intensity, from simple lead-and-follow, fall-and-catch to some audaciously gravity-defying contact moves. Passion may be blind, but this is no mere fumble in the dark: the relationship between choreographer Jenni Wren and partner Riccardo Meneghini is something deeper and more sincere. Cloud Dance Festival: Trouble & Desire, Sunday 28 March, Reviewed by Lise Smith

Slanjayvah Danza's Blind Passion was already the hit of the previous festival, and it didn't fail to cast its spell on the audience again. Jenni Wren truly is a master of contact work, and she has created a duet at once daring and entrancing, a process of discovery so exposed that a collective frisson passes through the audience every time. The choreography actually seems more influenced by tango when it is not trying to be tango - the elasticity of the partnering, the minute reactions to each other, the ability to lead and be led as if in the dark, so moving in the choreography, are exactly what gives modern tango its perfume. Jenni Wren was performing with a new partner, Riccardo Meneghini, but together they dance Blind Passion with the utmost trust and abandon - equal in desire, alternatively supporting each other through lifts and releases. A masterpiece, achieving full effect in the intimate setting of the Pleasance Theatre. - Laura Cappelle, CDF, Pleasance Theatre, London 28 March 2010

Last seen at CDF's Parade in 2009, Slanjayvah Danza brings us Blind Passion, a duet daring in more ways than one. Beginning with smooth, tango-inspired moves, sometimes rotated around the body or onto the floor, the work takes on a new dimension of intimacy when the dancers remove their (already skimpy) vest tops and don blindfolds. The blindness stands both for sensuousness - deprived of sight, the dancers can only sense and respond to one another's touch - and for profound trust between the pair. There's a thrilling build in intensity, from simple lead-and-follow, fall-and-catch to some audaciously gravity-defying contact moves. Passion may be blind, but this is no mere fumble in the dark: the relationship between choreographer Jenni Wren and partner Riccardo Meneghini is something deeper and more sincere. - Cloud Dance Festival: Trouble & Desire, Sunday 28 March, Reviewed by Lise Smith

2009

"Blind Passion" - Live Cut

"...a huge hit. ...an impressively fresh piece and I'm sure will be in the rep for a long time -
it certainly deserves to be seen by many more." Link to article http://ow.ly/JR1c
Bruce Marriot - Ballet.co.uk

"Blind Passion - Live Cut ... left the audience stunned" - Laura Cappelle

"..an explosive and memorable work....The movement is well-crafted, fluid and
impressively executed.... the strong sense of touch that it created and striking
passionate energy of the work was compelling and intriguing." Hetty Blades.

"...a feast of toned flesh intricately synchronized by Jenni Wren and Phil Sanger.
Their partnering with blindfolds is inventive, the potential hazards of such
complex partner work laid - almost literally - bare." - The Londonist

"Indeed, Slanjayvah had better be back" - GWDancewriter

"Jaw-droppingly stunning and achingly sensual" - Creative Bradford,

"Beautiful and provocative" - Cloud Dance Festival.

"Those who saw Jenni Wren and Phil Sanger perform "Blind Passion", know you
witnessed something very special indeed." - SEVEN Arts Centre.

"Simply stunning" - Emerge Festival, Leeds

Blind Passion Audience - July 09

"I've never experienced such silence and felt such atmosphere in a performance.
Blind Passion definitely had everyone's attention in a way i've never seen before"

"The most beautiful piece of dance I have seen in many years."

"This was so amazing, like catching a glimpse of two people in the depth of a beautiful relationship"

"Wow, you took my breath away""

"Engaging, steamy, intimate and definitely passionate"

"No-one has made the hairs on my arms stick up like that"

"We couldn't get into the show having arrived too late but i've never seen such a hub of excited energy
as people came out of the performance, everyone was absolutely buzzing about it - cant believe we missed it!"

January 09

"On the verge of heading for the next train home I decided to stay for the 'Work in progress dance' by Slanjayvah Danza and was so pleased I took my chances on this last performance. Theatrical spot-lighting lit two dancers, one male, one female, on the small stage in the main auditorium. The varied musical score complimented the mix-tape of dancing styles blended in Danza's choreography in a brief yet vibrant contemporary dance piece. Beginning with the Argentine Tango, and donning only thin vests and hotpant shorts, red blindfolds and bare feet, the couple moved towards one another and after finding their partner in almost complete darkness, jointly took on a challenging set of dance sequences, lifts and near acrobatic movements. Whilst the spotlights revealed their figures but not the detail of the face, this dance work scrumptiously uncovered just enough piece by piece, tantalizing the audience and driving the routine forward, not through narrative, but sheer gusto and passion as each movement led them in to the next. The momentum and intensity of the movement progressively built into climax after climax. Also listed as 'a work in progress', I struggled to find any aspects in need of improvement. The dancers were highly professional, and choreography of this intensity and quality was a joy to watch."

Joanna Loveday

Joanna Loveday is a writer based in Yorkshire, UK specialising in writing on performance and live art. For full review please visit http://www.joannaloveday.blogspot.com/

Blind Passion - Raw Cut - 08

"This is great art, I could not talk, but was dragged into the atmosphere of
performance. The most amazing thing is everybody can see the beautiful
bodies of the dancers, who can't see. I love that combination.
I wish I could do it myself" - Charlotte, Dec 08
"Loved it! More a work of art than a dance. Very atmospheric.
The dancing was amazing and very fluid." - Joe, Dec 08