Above: from Akram Khan's KAASH
~ Author: Oberon
Wednesday June 12th, 2024 - The Netherlands-based company INTRODANS are back at The Joyce after a ten-year absence. The program, entitled Energy, brings together works by Akram Khan, Lucinda Childs, and Mauro Bigonzetti.
The first half of the program was magnificent in every way: music, choreography, costuming, lighting, and stellar dancing combined for an engrossing experience. My choreographer-companion and I were literally mesmerized by what we were seeing...and hearing.
From Akram Khan, we saw KAASH (created in 2002 and revised in 2020), set to music by Nitin Sawhney, and John Oswald's Spectre, as played by the Kronos Quartet. Rumbling thunder at curtain-rise finds Anish Kapoor's backdrop with its enigmatic rectangle lit by Aideen Malone (adapted by Paul Moorhouse). The five dancers - three men and two women - all wear long black skirts, designed by Kimje Nokano.
The dancers at first move in unison, with a stylized feeling. A heavy beat develops (the score is fabulously percussive) as the dancers strike poses or move like young gods and goddesses about the space; they seem to have a mission, though we do not know what it is. Rhythmic chattering takes over the soundtrack, with the dancers executing ritualistic combinations. The music turns kozmic for a female solo; then the lights brighten for a male solo. The dancers' bodies become vessels of expression.
After a brief silence, the dancing resumes to the sound of crystalline pinging. The dancers slowly depart, leaving a lone man standing still and facing upstage. His back muscles articulate a compelling legend of their own. As the light fades, he strikes an ecstatic pose.
Above: from Lucinda Childs' CONCERTO
Contrasting the Khan piece in almost every regard (except that it's also a masterpiece) is Lucinda Childs' lyrical CONCERTO (1993/2007). The white-light setting, by Dominique Drillot, lends a sense of purity as the seven dancers - all in black trousers and shirts (by costumier Anne Masset) - slowly gather together.
Henryk Górecki's Concerto for Harpsichord and String Orchestra is a fantastical work, with a fascinating rhythmic impetus and a Baroque connection that oddly puts me in mind of vampires. Even when the music takes on a more driven quality, the dancing remains elegant and ballet-based, employing expressive port de bras and wafting arabesques. The dancers come and go, each seemingly in his/her own world. After a sustained chord, a lively rhythm brings a fabulous energy to the dance, which comes to a sudden stop.
Having very much liked Mauro Bigonzetti's ballets at New York City Ballet - OLTREMARE, VESPRO, and - especially - IN VENTO - I was anticipating tonight's CANTATA. But, after a choral opening, I began to find the ballet revolting. Described in the program note as "earthy, raw, and passionate", I would instead call it "noisy, crude, and disgusting". Some people walked out after a few minutes, and if I had thought I could have safely made my way up the stairs in the dark, I would have joined them. A sad ending to an otherwise phenomenal evening.
~ Oberon