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Helikopter
created 2001
Choreography
Angelin
Preljocaj
Music
Karlheinz
Stockhausen
Helikopter
Quartet
Performed by
The Quatuor
Arditti
Video
Scenic Director
Holger
Forterer
Lighting
Patrick Riou
Costumes
Sylvie Meyniel
Dancers
Claudia
De Smet
Natacha
Grimaux
Leonardo
Centi
Alexandre
Nipau
Baptiste
Oberson
Teresa Simas
The
Rite
of Spring
created
2001
Choreography
Angelin
Preljocaj
Music
Igor
Stravinsky
Played by
The Chicago
Orchestra
Conducted by
Daniel
Baren bim
Scenery
Thierry
Leproust
Lighting
Marion
Hewlett
Costumes
Eric Bergere
Dancers
Claudia
De Smet
Natacha
Grimaux
Nigisa Shirai
Teresa Simas
Isabelle
Arnaud
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Sadler's
Wells
30th
April - 4th May 2002 |
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French-Albanian
choreographer Angelin Preljocaj makes
his return this season with both an
inspiring and highly provocative programme
of contemporary dance. Considered to
be at the forefront of France's leading
experimental and contemporary choreographers,
Preljocaj enjoys respect on an international
basis. Technical genius in the set coupled
with strength of physique and movement
in the dancers present an ensemble of
emotive stage effects.
The programme
is presented in two parts one,
as advertised, danced to Stravinsky's
'The Rite of Spring'. The other entitled
Helikopter
- a surprise - kicks off the proceedings.
The music for Helikopter was born from
a dream of Karlheinz Stockhausen, the
musician, and involves a string quartet
playing during flight in four helicopters,
all following the rhythm of the blades.
Preljocaj has taken this obscure musical
arrangement and combined it with a simple
yet dramatic stage setting. Together,
music and setting cleverly provide the
illusion that the dancers are moving
in a groundswell of noise and wind directly
below the path of a helicopter. It is
in this imagined and turbulent space
that the dancers push and pull against
each other and against the techno-like
beats of the music, in a piece that
lasts 35 minutes.
Similar to
the way that dance relies to a great
extent on music for rhythm and expression,
dance in this piece wouldn't work without
the set. This is not intended as a criticism,
but more to explain how Preljocaj relies
on a combination of technical surroundings
and expressionism through body movement,
to achieve the full effect.
The stage floor
is permanently covered by a revolving
sequence of bright strip-lighting, checkerboard
patterns, swirls and numbered gridlines.
The real art in this is that the floor
also appears to be pressure-sensitive,
giving the impression that the dancers
are moving in rippling tides each
step sending a pool of shock-waves across
the stage. This alone is both bizarre
and magnificent. When complemented by
a mirrored back wall, the effects of
which give an aerial or helicopter view
of the stage, the full visual is a superb
achievement.
This piece
is a grand example of how sharp and
typically jarred movements can remain
fluid and somehow graceful. It is clear
that every arm reach, writhing compulsively
against the machinery of sound, is felt
by the dancers from their waist. And
what begins with the kick of an acutely
flexed foot, can be traced through the
body of the dancer to the tilting head.
The music nor
dance appear to carry a story or offer
a sense of resolution. Also, to the
untrained eye, there is no apparent
sequence to the movement or repetition
akin to verse and chorus. But this doesn't
matter. The dancers as a group
of six, in pairs or singularly demonstrate
undulating vigour, relentless in their
efforts.. This is a showcase of genius
in choreography from Preljocaj and in
dance from the performers. It is clearly
not the work of moment.
And so to Part
II and 'The Rite of Spring'. According
to Preljocaj, Stravinsky's music carries
with it a slowly rising force of desire
and controlled panic. And so Preljocaj
has developed an act which is dedicated
to our biological instincts and the
core of our being. Using dance movements
which demonstrate provoked desire
and the stimulation of the senses,
the audience is presented with a 'playground'
scene, followed by an orgy of sexual
temptation and rejection.
When the
six female dancers walk onto centre-stage
and begin by pulling their knickers
to their ankles, you wonder whether
the intention was to cause a wrinkle
of humour in the audience. Perhaps
not. Watched intently by six young
stallions, it is clear early on what
the fate of the girls is likely to
be. Inviting attention and initiating
a game of cat and mouse, the girls
lead a dance that ends in sacrifice.
This dance
is urgent and frenzied. Sexual awakening
is not innocent or nervous. The boys
become red-blooded and dangerous and
the girls have taken on more than
they can handle. Contemporary tumbles,
both on foot and lying on grass mounds,
see the boys first grappling and then
physically pushing for dominance with
violent throws. Meanwhile, the girls
attempt to crawl back with provocative
touch before trying to escape. And
like the sexual encounter the dance
is portraying, you expect a climax
to the piece, and thankfully this
is delivered.
Ultimately,
and true to form, the woman is portrayed
as the weaker sex. The culmination
is a shocking, and literally naked,
mockery of the fresh young victim.
Credit to the dancer who bares all
in a display that is more fitting
of the mainstream Hollywood film genre.
Preljocaj's
production to 'The Rite of Spring'
is, without doubt, compelling. But
while the dancers deliver every part
as if it were second nature, the contemporary
dance moves are not particularly memorable.
What makes it gripping is the risk
Preljocaj has taken in his raw interpretation
of a very real set of emotions.
Jemma Walters |
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