Once again, I've travelled a fair distance to see the work of the edgy, dynamic, gripping modern German dance company, Gauthier Dance. And once again, the company has all but hurled me off my seat in the theatre with the sheer dynamism, evocative power, and humour of their programme, Mega Israel.
Conflict of Interest Alert: My nephew, Robert Stephen, dances in this company.
The title of the programme reflects the selection of dance works being presented: three major pieces by four contemporary Israeli choreographers. Three works, and twice that many diverse styles of dance, made for an evening that was stimulating and involving, to say the least.
The opening work, Hofesh Schechter's Uprising, set a dramatic tone right off the bat with an aggressive drumbeat rhythm as the cast of seven men strode forward through the haze of a smoke machine to the forestage. Later on, they made an even more spectacular re-entry by rocketing through the haze in mid-air.
This work explores male contention, striving, competition, and fellowship alike in a hard-edged, athletic, aggressive style of dance. Faster passages find bodies hurtling around and across the stage at top speed, occasionally sliding into gymnastic tumbling, or running bent down low like soldiers advancing across a battlefield. In slower parts of the work, stylized wrestling moves take centre stage.
At the midpoint of the piece, one moment of stasis occurs -- the men stand in a close circle, facing inwards. Each one in turn raises his right hand and slaps the shoulder of the one next to him -- some with one slap, some with two. The last one slaps twice, then a third time on the neck of his neighbour and the conflict instantly erupts again. At the very end, a final tableau of the men clustered together with one raised up, and lifting up a red flag, appears to pay tribute to revolutionaries of all ages and all cultures.
Even with this description, it's hard to convey the breathtaking amount of nonstop energy which the cast brought to this study in masculine pride, power, and security (or lack thereof).
The second work brought six women of the company to the stage for Killer Pig by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar. Artistic director Eric Gauthier, in his pre-show remarks, explicitly stated that he had no idea what this strange title might mean. I don't either. It's a common trend, in modern dance and concert-hall music alike, to identify works with apparently descriptive or evocative titles which in fact fail to describe or evoke anything relatable to the work as presented.
This work exhausted the audience just as much as Uprising, but in a completely different way. The six women, clad in anonymous bodysuits of greyish-pink hue, dance in the first of two discernable parts of the piece in a tight-knit group. To a slow-moving rhythmic ostinato based on four notes, they move forwards, backwards, turning slowly in new directions, almost always as a group of six -- occasionally with one member detached from the group.
The "killer" in this work is the fact that the group spends most of the first ten minutes either standing still, or at best moving very slowly in steps somewhere between a strut and a sashay, all the while poised as if they were wearing five-inch stiletto heels. Anyone who's ever worn such shoes knows the strain they place on the whole body, from heels all the way to neck. Now just imagine yourself moving slowly in such shoes for 10 minutes, except that the shoes aren't actually there at all.
I know from conversations in the lobby that I wasn't the only person who began to feel that I was seeing those non-existent shoes after a few minutes. That imagination is a tribute to the poise and apparent ease of the cast as they executed this wickedly stressful assignment.
At about the 10 minute mark, the ostinato peels away to just a beat and slowly speeds up to a faster tempo. The dance too moves into a higher gear, with more movement, more individualism among the dancers, and more edginess. The "high-heels" stance vanishes, for the most part, although it still appears on a few occasions, momentarily. However, the veneer of poise never completely peels away. In the end, the team reunites and stands, turning slowly as a group, pivoting around a point, while the curtain slowly falls.
Exactly what, if anything, all of this might mean is left open to the audience to decide -- and I always enjoy having such a challenge flung into my lap. My mind was working overtime throughout the piece, drawing many different and conflicting layers of meaning from the dance. In rapid succession, I found myself considering social conditioning, gender roles and identities, group dynamics versus individualism, conformity and peer pressure -- to mention only a few possible themes. Killer Pig left me with the clear feeling that it would be fascinating to treat this work as a kind of Rorschach ink blot test, and see what kinds of reactions a diverse group of watchers could draw from having viewed it.
One thing was clear: the women earned in spades every moment of the raucous cheers that greeted their efforts when the work finally reached its conclusion somewhere past the 30-minute mark. If there was a weakness, it was the extended length of the second, faster "part." This section of the work eventually became repetitive, and I'm sure many people began to disconnect as a result. I felt that no essential damage would result by cutting away many of the more repetitive passages, and bringing the second part down to a length that more closely balanced the first part.
The audience members who drew the most fun from the entire show were those who returned early to their seats during the intermission. We had the joy of watching Maurus Gauthier (no relation to the artistic director) doing an extended improv dance/mime/string of comic pratfalls all over the stage. His entertaining performance not only exemplified the extraordinary abilities, skills, and fitness level of this company, but also -- by design -- merged very neatly into the opening of the final piece, Minus 16 by Ohad Naharin.
Again, I've no idea what the title might mean. Naharin has drawn together a trilogy of episodes from three of his previous dance works and set them into a combination which highlights the special qualities of each. Taken as a whole, Minus 16 brings a much lighter, more humorous vein into the show without abandoning any of the essential energy driving the performances.
The mime solo ended with Gauthier pulling back on his black suit jacket over a white shirt, and he was then joined -- one by one -- by the other 17 members of the company, all similarly dressed. The first section of the piece found the entire group seated in a semi-circle of chairs. The music track was a hard-driven arrangement of Echad Mi Yodea, a traditional Hebrew teaching song used as part of the Haggadah (the ritual of the Passover meal). The dancing hewed to the power of the accompaniment rather than the text of the song.
As an additional item adds to the list in each of the 13 verses, so an additional move is added to the choreography at each verse. Dancers shoot rapidly off their chairs and back on, swing their bodies from side to side, fling themselves back against the chairs in a "wave" -- and at the end of each verse one dancer (the same one each time) sprawls forward on the floor as if dead before crawling slowly back into his chair. Best not to worry about meaning here. As the piece nears its climax, costume items begin flying -- jackets in verse 10, shoes in 11, shirts in 12, and trousers in 13. All these items are quietly gathered up and moved away, as are the chairs, and the soundtrack flows forwards into the second section
Again, I've no idea what the title might mean. Naharin has drawn together a trilogy of episodes from three of his previous dance works and set them into a combination which highlights the special qualities of each. Taken as a whole, Minus 16 brings a much lighter, more humorous vein into the show without abandoning any of the essential energy driving the performances.
The mime solo ended with Gauthier pulling back on his black suit jacket over a white shirt, and he was then joined -- one by one -- by the other 17 members of the company, all similarly dressed. The first section of the piece found the entire group seated in a semi-circle of chairs. The music track was a hard-driven arrangement of Echad Mi Yodea, a traditional Hebrew teaching song used as part of the Haggadah (the ritual of the Passover meal). The dancing hewed to the power of the accompaniment rather than the text of the song.
As an additional item adds to the list in each of the 13 verses, so an additional move is added to the choreography at each verse. Dancers shoot rapidly off their chairs and back on, swing their bodies from side to side, fling themselves back against the chairs in a "wave" -- and at the end of each verse one dancer (the same one each time) sprawls forward on the floor as if dead before crawling slowly back into his chair. Best not to worry about meaning here. As the piece nears its climax, costume items begin flying -- jackets in verse 10, shoes in 11, shirts in 12, and trousers in 13. All these items are quietly gathered up and moved away, as are the chairs, and the soundtrack flows forwards into the second section
This was a quietly evocative pas de deux set to the tender, yet aching chromatic harmonies of Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus. Nora Brown and Réginald Lefebvre moved slowly and smoothly in a manner that mingled equal parts intention and uncertainty, and this accorded very well with the ever-shifting harmonic clashes of the music.
In the third part, the company returned in the black suits for what could only be called a nightclub scene. It began with a slow tango. Then the house lights came up and the company came down from the stage and picked out volunteers from all around the audience to join them in dancing. A rapid rock beat version of Over the Rainbow filled the air as the doubled company came up onto the stage. The music then morphed into an honest-to-goodness cha-cha (heaven only knows when I last heard something like that!). Then the company and their guests formed into a double line, highlighting one couple as the "leads," so to speak. At the end, as all the volunteers headed back to their seats, the lead couple kept dancing. On the final note, the company members all fell flat on their backs on the floor, leaving the last volunteer standing to accept the uproarious applause and cheers all alone.
On Saturday, the last woman standing was shy and just scooted off the stage ASAP, but on Friday the lucky lady bowed repeatedly, and continued bowing and waving as the follow spot took her to the stairs and down into the auditorium. Great fun for everyone.
There then followed a false curtain call, which got the audience onto their feet. But Naharin had his fun with us too, as the music drifted into a quiet Chopin nocturne and the company resumed dancing, much more gently, until the curtain fell.
Power in plenty, energy to burn, strength to endure, and good laughs to make life easier -- Mega Israel really did have it all. The company of Gauthier Dance richly deserved the immense cheers and applause they received from the Chicago audiences.
Me? I'm just looking forward to my next chance to see this extraordinary company in action.
In the third part, the company returned in the black suits for what could only be called a nightclub scene. It began with a slow tango. Then the house lights came up and the company came down from the stage and picked out volunteers from all around the audience to join them in dancing. A rapid rock beat version of Over the Rainbow filled the air as the doubled company came up onto the stage. The music then morphed into an honest-to-goodness cha-cha (heaven only knows when I last heard something like that!). Then the company and their guests formed into a double line, highlighting one couple as the "leads," so to speak. At the end, as all the volunteers headed back to their seats, the lead couple kept dancing. On the final note, the company members all fell flat on their backs on the floor, leaving the last volunteer standing to accept the uproarious applause and cheers all alone.
On Saturday, the last woman standing was shy and just scooted off the stage ASAP, but on Friday the lucky lady bowed repeatedly, and continued bowing and waving as the follow spot took her to the stairs and down into the auditorium. Great fun for everyone.
There then followed a false curtain call, which got the audience onto their feet. But Naharin had his fun with us too, as the music drifted into a quiet Chopin nocturne and the company resumed dancing, much more gently, until the curtain fell.
Power in plenty, energy to burn, strength to endure, and good laughs to make life easier -- Mega Israel really did have it all. The company of Gauthier Dance richly deserved the immense cheers and applause they received from the Chicago audiences.
Me? I'm just looking forward to my next chance to see this extraordinary company in action.
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