Clinkard’s choreography has an unforced, unhurried quality that is very much of the moment. He muses, tinkers around with his material like a bloke in a shed, and then, quietly and deftly, pulls the loose ends together. The result is intimate, human-scale and charged with joy.
The Observer on OF LAND & TONGUE ****
There’s a deceptive simplicity to Theo Clinkard’s choreography. It’s never just about the human shapes on stage – there’s always an emotional dimension in play. This Bright Field, Clinkard’s most recent work, is full of visual pleasures and surprises, but his overriding preoccupation is with the transmission of feeling.
The Observer on THIS BRIGHT FIELD ****
Grounded as it is in human experience, Ordinary Courage is a very approachable work. Clinkard’s movement language is deceptive, its apparent simplicity that of well-written dialogue. There’s nothing that doesn’t need to be there, and the precision with which we are led through the darkness of grief to the light beyond promises well for his future work.
The Observer on ORDINARY COURAGE ****
Clinkard’s ability to draw together an integrated theatrical experience that engages bespoke live music and a clever lighting design shows a sure touch of class.
Dance Tabs on ORDINARY COURAGE
Clinkard's choreography is intuitive, elemental and forever on the brink of collapse, a study in frailty and elegant vulnerability.
Acrossthearts.co.uk on CHALK
...it all somehow falls into place, such is the joy of Clinkard's choreography. He makes it all look so easy and in the moment. A joy to watch, with everyone getting a chance to shine.
Acrossthearts.co.uk on OF LAND & TONGUE
The dancers perform with a radiant precision, but it is in the transcendent thread of the Vaughan Williams solo that Clinkard encapsulates the double dynamic of his choreography, drawing us into the intimacy of the dancers’ interactions, but also imposing a distance, as if observing from a bird’s-eye view. Sitting in the packed theatre, I doubt I was the only one to imagine the spirit of Bausch was observing them, too.
The Guardian on SOMEWHAT STILL WHEN SEEN FROM ABOVE for Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch
As a choreographer Clinkard has a flair for conceiving cohesive dances in combination with richly synthesised transdisciplinary practices, displaying an approach to dance that is vivid, subtle, raucous and elegant, offering audiences an alternative mode of attention, and bringing more oxygen into the room for germinating new ideas for the stage.
Adam Moore for Dance Arts Journal on HOT MESS for Candoco Dance Company