(choreographers).
Aisling O'Dea (violin). Jan Schouten (piano).
Nederlands Dans Theater (founded 1959) continues to maintain its world class status as one the most influential companies. As an innovative dance academy, NDT 2 was formed in 1978 for young dancers aged 17 to 22, to focus on developing modern ballet, blending classic technique with cutting edge choreography.
This superlative programme presents revivals of Leon/Lightfoot trademark works complemented by two recent premieres to show the diversity of dance across the past decade.
The stark, minimalist, mood music of Philip Glass has long been the perfect complement to a movie and choreography.
Postscript, (Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, 2005) is set to two works by Glass, Strung Out for amplified violin, and Metamorphoses 1 & 2 for piano, which are performed live on stage which adds a heightened dimension.
In the first half, a trio of dancers in white trousers, throw themselves into high kicking, free-spirited, sporty play. Violinist Aisling O’Dea is part of the action, moving slowly around the dancers, to follow the score illuminated along the side of the stage. The loud, amplified music enhances and embellishes the fast paced energy of movement.
Pianist Jan Schouten takes over the music accompaniment: the rapid repetition of notes is like trickling water, weaving the deliciously dreamlike soundscape. Perfectly stylised in black and white monochrome, a series of seamless “pas de deux” denotes sweet, romantic embracing and coupling, legs, arms, bodies entwined as one.
The title of Leon and Lightfoot's "Shutters Shut" is a phrase taken from Gertrude Stein’s poem, "If I Told Him: A Completed Portrait of Picasso" (first published in Vanity Fair in 1924). Stein’s voice itself is heard reverberating around the theatre in a recording of her text with a deep monotonal delivery.
If I told him if Napoleon if Napoleon if I told him. If I told
him would he like it would he like it if I told him.
Now.
Not now.
And now.
Now.
In this short, sharp four minute performance, two dancers present a clownish, comic double act, a kind of surreal, synchronised, acrobatic routine. The meaning of the rather eccentric text becomes irrelevant – this is about the rhythm of the spoken word expressed through mime and facial gesture.
"Sara" is a joint creation by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar. Eyal, from Jerusalem, danced with Batsheva Dance Company for nearly 20 years. She and Gai Behar, an Israeli music producer, founded their dance company L-E-V (heart).
Similar to Shutters Shut, the choreography is based around a text - this time the lyrics and electronic beat of a song, The Knifes, From Off to On by Ori Lichtik, a DJ in Tel-Aviv, described as “ a true legend in the Rave scene.”
An ensemble of seven dancers wear nude, skin-tight leotard-costumes, giving the impression of unashamed nakedness, their slender bodies revealing ribs and hipbones. The emphasis on body shape and physicality has a pure sensual quality to reflect the idea of memory, dreams and the depth of human emotion.
And the evening of inspiring, innovative contemporary dance ends with "I New Then" by the Swedish choreographer, Johan Inger. Humour and cliché is used to explore the everyday social world of personal relationships. Van Morrison’s song lyrics - The Way Young Lovers Do, Sweet Things, Crazy Love - provide the happy go lucky, romantic tone to this vivacious expression of life, living and love.
Show times
29 – 30 May, 2014
Ticket prices, £12 - £23