![]() ![]() Unlikely to feature live to Dublin audiences, it revealed the well-resourced artistic bravery found in Europe’s dance landscape and the astounding versatility of dancers who danced in all four works. Now under the artistic direction of Parisian collective (La)Horde, Ballet national de Marseille (★★★★) presented four works of astounding variety that would be hard to find in any other ballet company’s repertoire. And here the Crash Ensemble musicians are more insistent, observing the action almost as a Greek chorus, commenting through their improvised music. But any contact was minimal, almost furtive, the duet ending with them retreating into a corner closely followed by the camera lens. The two dancers, Luke Murphy and Emily Terndup, are a couple in life, so physical contact was possible. The air between the falling dancer and hand becomes compressed and charged, which makes the physical touching in the next film, Hand in Hand, all the more jarring. This is further accentuated in a later film, Catching and Falling, where the dancers’ outstretched hands begin to catch a falling dancer, only to draw their hands away at the last minute lest they touch. Here the camera is most insistent in guiding our eyes: almost constant panning, angles and distance regularly changing, drawing focus to the empty space between bodies. One person’s movement triggers a response from another, and the eye is drawn to trying to find connections between bodies. Each dancer is dancing in isolation, but seems to easily affect others. And we think of these other people less as humans, more as masked biohazards.Įntitled Travelling Back, this opening film articulates the tension between the individual and the group. We have all created our own choreography of maintaining constantly shifting orbits of 2 metres’ distance from other moving people. In the past 14 months, touching, even physical proximity, has become taboo. Watching them, you realise that context is everything. A live version is in the offing later in the year, but the films, created by Liz Roche and José Miguel Jiménez, are an important snapshot of today. Instead, Demos is subtitled "films of separation and togetherness", an artistic solution to the public health restrictions. In previous years, Liz Roche Dance Company's Demos (★★★★) would have provided the opening night glitz in the Abbey Theatre, the foyer bustling with air kisses and giddy anticipation. Commissions and new work from Irish and international choreographers all feature, but – unsurprisingly and slightly depressingly – are all online. Last year's Dublin Dance Festival was a quickly assembled online programme created within a few weeks of lockdown, but this year's performance programme shows a heavier curatorial hand. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |