“The programme’s second work, Shaun James Kelly’s Chrysalis, set to Phillip Glass’s solo piano work, Metamorphosis I – V, takes advantage of the ready-made structure the music provides, although it, too, has a wistful, nostalgic dimension that links it in tone to the preceding ballet. As the title hints, Kelly focuses on the layers of identity that people wrap themselves in, or indeed, employ to disguise their true selves from others and even themselves. Rory William Docherty’s costume designs play an integral part in the exploration of this concept, with the dancers first appearing wrapped in loose-fitting street clothes, suggesting a past, but not precisely defined, era. As the ballet unfolds, the dancers are unwrapped, gradually discarding their outer layers to reveal multi-coloured unitards beneath. The discarded outer layers are placed on coat hangers that have been lowered from the flies, and they are hoisted above the stage as ghostly presences that continue to cast their shadows over the dancers below. Kelly uses a cast of five couples to explore relationships of differing kinds, assembling them in a sequence of changing configurations as these evolve and fall apart. The consistent connection between the lead couple of Ana Gallardo Lobaina and Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson provides a linking thread throughout the work, and as Glass’s music returns to its beginnings in the closing section, they are united in a heartfelt pas de deux that is a touching tribute to the enduring relationship of Kelly’s parents.”
Reviewed by Dr Ian Lochhead
