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Flash Review 1, 1-22:
Happy Together
Duato & Co. Throw Bach a Birthday Party
By Tim Heathcote
Copyright 2001 Tim Heathcote
SYDNEY -- Saturday night
as part of the 25th Sydney Festival, the Capitol Theatre hosted
the opening performance of "Multiplicity: Forms of Silence and Emptiness"
by the Compania Nacional de Danza of Spain. This evening-length
work by Nacho Duato, the company's artistic director and chief choreographer,
was created to mark the 250th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach's
birth.
Duato's work was divided
into two sections. Part 1: MULTIPLICITY, was a celebration of the
talented composer. 13 short pieces, full of color, vigor and many
costume changes matched Bach's diversity of score. This half was
energetic, and sometimes humorous. I found Bach's tempo to be at
times too fast to move to, but Duato dealt with this by occasionally
slowing his rhythm down in opposition and this suited me better
than his trying to keep up.
Bach experienced death
many times in his life. This is said to have had a large influence
on many of his works. This set the tone for Part 2 of the Duato
work, FORMS OF SILENCE AND EMPTYNESS. This half was much darker
and more meditative, and mined the depth of Duato's genius. Here
the movement was fluid and generous, and showcased his choreographic
talents in partnering.
This work was not about
story-telling, but about movement. The "Bach theme'" was just that,
a theme, and besides the use of his music, was mainly utilized to
inspire design concepts. The period costumes (by Cornejo) were stunning,
but these were rare, as the performers were mostly dressed in black
unitards. The set concept "envisioned the themes of the Baroque
music of J.S. Bach through the process of folding," according to
the program notes. The resulting huge scaffold structure was fabulous
and when combined with the dramatic lighting of Brad Fields, was
visually stimulating.
The performance highlights
were the two short solos performed by Duato himself that started
and finished the work. Here we got to see where the movement was
born and it was easy to see, by the way he moved, where the dancers
in his company learned their skills.
So how did I feel? I
felt inspired. You know you're in for a good performance when you
go and see a happy company. A happy company requires a happy and
confident leader. Someone the dancers respect. This leader has to
give them the confidence in their own abilities and when he creates
he has to give them the choreography that makes them feel good,
and subsequently look good. I believe this to be true of Nacho Duato's
company.
Saturday night I saw
more than 20 dancers perform. Each and every one of them "had it."
Each and every one of them understood the movement and executed
it to perfection. Each movement was born from the previous. Every
thing had a meaning. An arm movement wasn't just placed, it was
instigated from the back. A leg wasn't moved without first being
motioned from the hip. Every dancer understood each other's bodies
as well as his or her own.
Keeping in mind that
there is no formal training for a style like Duato's, my question
is, how can every dancer in the company be so skilled in his style?
There were no signs, that I could see, of any new dancer fresh out
of the classical academy struggling with a foreign way of moving.
And yet each dancer, if needed, could be totally classical. I have
heard this company has a low turnover rate, a good answer to my
question, and also proof of a happy company.
As a dancer I enjoyed
every single moment of this performance. It was jammed full of juicy
movement and not a lot of fluff, but I wondered how someone who
couldn't feel the movement in his or her body as they watched, could
sit through so much of it.... Hopefully with no problems at all.
The wonderful dancers
of Compania Nacional de Danza: Mar Baudesson, Emmanuelle Broncin,
Catherine Habasque, Ruth Maroto, Lesley Telford, Karen Waldie, Thomas
Klein, Patrick de Bana, Kim McCarthy, Demond Hart, Rafael Rivero,
Africa Guzman, Luis Martin Oya, Tamako Akiyama, Iratxe Ansa, Luisa
Maria Arias, Liu Balocchi, Cristina Hortiguela, Emilija Jovanovic,
Miriam Kescherman, Ana Maria Lopez, Yolanda Martin, Olivier Foures,
Pedro Goucha, Amaury Lebrun, Olivier Lucea, Nicolas Maire, Sebastian
Mari, Ivano Rossetti, Joel Toledo, and Jacek Tyski.
Compania Nacional de
Danza performs in Sydney through Saturday, also presenting a second
program, which opens Thursday. The company brings "Multiplicity:
Forms of Silence and Emptiness" and other works to Lincoln Center
this summer. To see a video of Compania Nacional de Danza, please
visit the company's page on the World
Arts Inc. web site, and click on the download video option.
The video will take several minutes to download.
Tim Heathcote trained
at the Australian Ballet School, and danced with Sydney Dance Company
from 1993 to 1998. He left SDC and is currently doing research and
development in dance clothing and footwear.
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