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Reviews
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Nederlands Dans Theater 2Theatre Royal, Newcastle, and touring Fact: NDT II consists of sixteen dancers between the age of 17 and 22, all of whom have completed classical ballet training. Opinion: they are far too young to be so talented and disciplined! There were four pieces in the Newcastle programme, out of a tour repertoire of five: 27'52", choreographed by Jirí Kylián; Shutters Shut, by Paul Lightfoot and Sol León; Subject to Change, also by Lightfoot and León; and Minus 16, by Ohad Naharin. They are all different, although there are areas of commonality, and all really stretch the dancers.
After 27'52" (which, like the famous John Cage piece of music, 4'22", lasts as long as the title says), I heard someone ask, "But what was it about?" It was, by turns, tender, erotic, exciting - and bloody scary! Well, perhaps disturbing might be more appropriate. It had enormously high production values, even to the timing of the flying: lighting, music (very modern, with much use of silence), choreography and, of course, the performance. To watch a black border flown in, stopping precisely when touching the wrist of a dancer who has placed herself so that she is on one side and her hand on the other, was quite amazing: a piece of theatre technique which was a credit to both dancer and flyman (unsung heroes, flymen!), but it was typical of the quality of the piece. The quality of movement would change suddenly, from sweeping, wide smoothness to jerky angularity. Lighting would change from cold shadow to warm orange. Rows of floor cloths which stretched across the stage would suddenly become part of the dance, manipulated by dancers and, in turn, manipulating others. And at the end, the flown borders crashed down onto the stage in a stunning coup de théâtre. What was it about? If it could be explained in words, it wouldn't need to be danced, would it?
Shutters Shut couldn't have been a bigger contrast. Lasting just four minutes, it is a piece for two dancers (Valentina Scaglia and Fernando Hernando Madagan). Reminiscent in some ways of the Marcel Marceau school of mime, it is a very funny piece, danced to a poem written and read by Gertrude Stein, If I told Him: A Competed Portrait of Picasso. Typically Stein in its disjointed, repetitious style, the combination of words, movement and Picasso was witty and enjoyable. A real little gem!
Set to the Andante con moto from Schubert's Death and Maiden, Subject to Change is danced by six dancers: Aurélie Cayla and Bastien Zorzetto, with Alexander Ekman, Jirí Pokorny, Alejandro Cerrudo and Yannis Mantafounis. It makes use of a large square of carpet which is unrolled by the four last named at the beginning, then rolled again at the end, and, in between, is moved around to transport the two principal dancers. Like 27'52" it is a piece of many layers and I found it in some ways rather bleak in its view of relationships. It was nonetheless gripping.
The final piece Minus 16, choreographed by Israeli Ohad Naharin, was very different, yet again. Featuring the entire company and with influences as diverse as the Jewish tradition, A Chorus Line, Latin American dance and even Breakdance jam sessions, it was divided into a number of sections, in one of which each dancer brought a member of the audience onstage to dance with them! Although each section was enjoyable, often funny and always impressively danced, I found the whole piece somewhat bitty and it just did not seem to hang together. Indeed, one section saw the only weakness of the evening: a human pyramid was rather shaky and obviously rushed. But I really couldn't blame the dancers here: these things need a little time, especially when a large number of people are involved, and that was something they didn't have. That they got up there and held the position (albeit shakily) in the time they were allowed speaks volumes for their control. But what a great evening of theatre! And yes, I mean theatre, not just dance. I won't get on that particular hobbyhorse again, but this was real theatre, with its ability to move the audience, to make it laugh and to disturb it. I sat next to a real fan and she described the company as contemporary dance at its best. On this showing, I'm inclined to agree. NDT2 play the Theatre Royal again on 29th May, then the Milton Keynes Theatre on 1st and 2nd June (slightly different programme), and Eden Court, Inverness, on 4th and 5th, where the tour ends.
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