Lyon Opera Ballet @ The Joyce

Thursday March 11, 2010 - The Lyon Opera Ballet are at The Joyce this week performing works of Cunningham, Forsythe and Marin. The house seemed nearly full tonight, keenly attentive and responsive to the dances and the dancers. The three pieces were well-contrasted making for a very enjoyable evening, the only blur being an overly-long intermission.

Dance works which evoke a very personal response are always a delight and so I watched Merce Cunningham's 1991 BEACH BIRDS in a state of charmed nostalgia. From the moment the curtain rose on the stage bathed in a perfect replication of 'Cape light' - that elusive silver-blue hue - I was immediately transported to the beach in Provincetown where I spent so many long, languid days in the 1980s and 90s. In the mid-afternoons, tidal pools would form among the dunes and seabirds would come to bathe, preen and cavort.

How perfectly Cunningham captures the curiosity, the delicate flutterings, the sudden stillness or the restless flight of his flock. With the spare John Cage score subtly depicting the quiet ebb and flow of waves on a calm day, the Lyon dancers were hypnotic in their white body-tights and black 'wings'. As the sky turned sunset-gold I was sad to see this dreamscape fading. (Photo above: Andrea Mohin).

It amused me to read in the Playbill that Cunningham created BEACH BIRDS on his computer.

Above, dancer Dorothee Delabie in a Michel Cavalca photo from William Forsythe's DUO which was danced by Mlle. Delabie and Amandine Francois. The two women in black shorts and see-thru tops move - often in sync or in reflection - to an other-worldly Thom Willems score which sometimes gave the feeling of having been transmitted from a distant galaxy. The dance is very physical and space-filling, and the sound of the dancers' breathing becomes a part of the experience.

Maguy Marin's GROSSE FUGUE (Michel Cavalca photo, above) is presented on the bare Joyce stage stripped back to the brick wall. To the Beethoven score of the same title (opus 133) four women in red skirts and blouses visually manifest the individual instrumental voices in very contemporary, free-wheeling movement. The dancers - Mlles. Delabie and Francois with Aurelie Gaillard and Agalie Vandamme - exalt, tremble, fly or repose as the score dictates in this brilliant and exhilarating visualization of music. The women's generous performance was warmly saluted by the audience at the conclusion of this physically demanding work.

The Forsythe and Marin pieces were wonderful to experience but in the end it was the Cunningham which lingered in the mind.

Another image from BEACH BIRDS with dancers Ruth Miro Salvador, Franck Laizet and Denis Terasse. Photo by J.P. Maurin. This work is now high on my list of memorable dance experiences.

Comments

[jolene]

Hi Philip - I'm so disappointed but they cancelled at least one of their West Coast stops "due to the economic climate". I'm so bummed! I'd love to have seen another Forsythe/Willems collaboration esp after I just saw "in the middle somewhat elevated" less than a week ago with the SFB. Thanks for posting.

[Philip]

Hi Jolene,

I had read that their US tour was curtailed for financial reasons. It's really too bad because it is a very interesting programme.

[Alex Rodabaugh]

I cannot wait to see this performance!