Crystal Pite (choreographer), Tom Visser (lighting design), Jay Gower Taylor (scenic design), Nancy Bryant (costume design). Owen Belton (original composition, music score).
Passing
Johan Inger (choreographer), Amos Ben-Tai (composition), Alan Brodie (lighting design), Linda Chow (costume design), Johan Inger (stage design) . Erik Enocksson & Louis T Hardin, (Music soundtrack)
Passing - Ballet BC Company dancers
Ballet BC, Canada’s leading contemporary dance company from British Columbia, aims to create dance at its most essential: visceral, thought-provoking, and transformative. This UK tour features a double bill of works by Crystal Pite and Johan Inger.
In a career spanning 35 years, Canadian dancer and choreographer, Crystal Pite has collaborated with many leading ballet companies of the world and received a Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.
Scottish Ballet performed her exquisite work ‘Emergence’ at the Edinburgh International Festival, 2013: ‘In the opening moment, in shadowy dim light of an underground labyrinth, we witness the magical birth from pupa to butterfly and the slow unfolding of delicate wings.' (Edinburgh Guide)
Frontier explores similar themes – a reflection on life, existence, the unknown. Two soloists dressed in white, emerge from the shadows surrounded by black hooded figures, confronting and trapping them in this alien environment. The unsettling atmosphere of this eerie universe reverberates with the sound of whispers, as the large group crouch down in unison to resemble black ants or spiders, crawling and scurrying over the stage.
The recurring contrast and game play between the opposing black and white dancers, individuals and ensemble, transforms the space into a chess board. Shafts of light pierce the blackness in swirling shadows, as a solo female is swept towards the threatening swarm, pushing and pulling to escape, with a frantic slipping, sliding movement. The choreographic composition creates meticulous formations, flowing along to the choral soundscape.
A frightening shadow, Flickering light;
Then I surrender unto sleep, Where clouds of dream give second sight
Of flying wings and soaring leap.
from Sleep, Eric Whiteacre
This army of black ‘ants’ is both mesmerising and menacing throughout as we observe their seamless acrobatic agility. Silence and darkness descend as they lie down in synchronised lines and roll very slowly to the edge of the stage and disappear, like dropping over a cliff. Utterly breathtaking.
Johan Inger studied ballet in his homeland of Sweden and then in Canada, later joining NDT for a prestigous dancing career. As an independent choreographer, he now creates innovative works including modern versions of narrative ballets, such as Carmen and A Swan Lake.
As a picture of life’s journey from family to social and personal relationships, Passing begins quietly, silently, as a lone figure sprinkles a grey powder or ash in a waving curve over the stage. ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.’
With spirited joie de vivre, a large group dressed in brightly colourful clothes, throw themselves gleefully into a Country folk dance, holding hands, whirling in circles, running, skipping like carefree children. The eclectic soundtrack features Westward Ho! by Louis T Hardin, a sea shanty and lullaby. Then a blast of foot-tapping rhythm, unmistakably Berstein-esque - a nod to West Side Story.
The ‘narrative,’ if there is one, takes a curious side step as a few dancers start laughing, hysterically. There’s no reason or impetus to cause this bizarre jollity. A ‘naked’ couple like Adam and Eve, appear in the crowd and gradually all the dancers in nude underwear, gather together. It’s like a ritualistic tribal celebration as a flurry of snow falls heavily to cover the entire stage.
Passing is akin to Theatre of the Absurd - the abandonment of conventional drama to portray the futility of human struggle in a senseless world (Beckett, Ionesco, Pinter) - rather than contemporary dance. It seems as if Johan Inger led an improvised workshop to allow the dancers express themselves with free abandon. In this Dance of the Absurd, there’s a lack of clear meaning but follows loosely connected themes about isolation in society, our individual sense of being and vision of the world.
Showtimes:
The performance took place on Friday 23rd May 2025
Tour dates: https://danceconsortium.com/touring/ballet-bc-2025/