Older dancers keep their claim to the stage in Revel, Company Chordelia’s compact study of ritual, memory and the physical toll of a long career. Conceived and staged by Kally Lloyd-Jones, who performs here with co-creator Steinvör Palsson, the show reframes pre-performance routines as a means of confronting what changes and what endures in a dancer’s body.
The Story in Pictures
The performance opens in a dressing room strewn with props: Lloyd-Jones emerges from beneath a discarded puffy dress and Palsson slips out of a storage crate. A backstage PA announces they have only nine hours to prepare, and from that deadline the pair build a sequence that moves from practical checklists to private reverie. Their preparations are small and specific: reading glasses, multivitamins, alternate nostril breathing and an HRT patch all get a moment of attention.
The two warm up in contrasting styles, which becomes the show’s organising device. Palsson moves through a calm qigong practice, Palsson is described in the source as serene, while Lloyd-Jones adopts a high-energy pattern of running, lunging and shaking. Those routines dissolve into dreamlike flashes, with references that range from Swan Lake to brisk marching motifs, then return to comic domesticity as they pause to solve a crossword over a banana and two chocolate digestives.
Moments of comic clarity punctuate the reverie. Palsson offers a juicy rendition of Whatever Lola Wants while Lloyd-Jones dashes to the bathroom. The pair demonstrate past ability with Barbies, only to break the dolls apart, a gesture that underlines both play and loss. Despite exaggerated hunching and other affectations, traces of professional training remain visible: Lloyd-Jones moves with sharp propulsion, Palsson hovers delicately on pointe.
The show rests on the performers’ calibrated rapport, every beat timed to land with both humour and tenderness. As the clock runs down they throw on costumes for a final run-through, refusing to let aches dictate the last practice. Revel is on tour and plays at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, with dates running until 23 October.
