A new season of ballet is upon us. If “Overture/s” is any indication, we are in for a journey bursting with the energy that comes from having finally emerged from a pandemic, and from the desire to stretch our wings to their fullest extent as a result of it. This Ballet BC crew is rediscovering their strengths, and in the process, surprising themselves with their own potential.
Bedroom Folk
Unlike previous productions, “Overture/s” dives straight into its first piece without the usual introduction by the company’s leadership. I found this to be incredibly effective as it added to the drama of the already high intensity piece.
In “Bedroom Folk” choreographers Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar position their dancers closely in two lines. A black curtain covers the bright red back wall to reveal just a third of it. The visual effect of this illusion is stunning. Coupled with the overhead spotlights, the backdrop cocoons the dancers in a velvety darkness while showcasing their every move with the red and black contrast. The movements themselves are derived from natural movements of the body – wobbling heads, shrugging shoulders, the mechanics of a sneeze. Eyal and Behar create dance out of everyday movements of the human body to the point where you can barely tell them apart from typical modern and contemporary dance movements.
The dancers move together synchronously, matching each other’s every move, but every once in a while, a dancer breaks into solo choreography that compliments the movement of the group. Much of the movement encapsulates the beauty of freedom when it is bestowed upon the human body. There are hints of ballet here and even Irish dancing. There is great humour in this piece as the dancers mix conventional and recognisable dance forms with unusual and pedestrian movements.
The music begins as a tribal slash techno rhythmic arrangement that builds in momentum and ecstasy. There are of course, many ways in which to interpret this dance, and all interpretations would be right. I concluded that the piece was about sexuality and intimacy, and how these are both influenced and hindered by the expectations of humans as a collective. We see glimpses of pleasure and then of deadly shame, the latter an unforgettable image as the brilliant Livona Ellis is suspended in the air by another dancer’s hands around her neck.
“Bedroom Folk” is an energetic and pulsing piece which shocks and soothes in equal measure.
Silent Tides
Preceding the second dance was the familiar introduction by the company’s leadership in which Medhi Walerski revealed the stepping down of executive director, John Clark, and the arrival of new managing director Kim Spencer-Nairn. Ballet BC seems to be undergoing a transformation but it appears to be an intentional and controlled one. The company is in good hands as the first dance so successfully demonstrated.
“Silent Tides” is Walerski’s own creation. As high impact, energetic, and tongue-and-cheek playful that “Bedroom Folk” was, “Silent Tides” takes us to the other end of the spectrum. We are taken into stillness, beauty, and romance.
Dancers Rae Srivastava and Sarah Pippa engage with each other through gentle and delicate contemporary choreography that is viscerally silent. A sharp bar of white light moves up and down the back wall to denote the rising and lowering of tides, and thus the passage of time in a romantic relationship. Pippa dances on stage partially nude, bare-chested and with white flowy, wide-leg trousers that match Srivastava’s get up. This creates visual symmetry between the dancers and implies a level of equality in the relationship that is stripped free of gender roles. The result is a highly elegant exchange between two human beings, lit beautifully by spotlights.
Walerski’s careful and fragile choreography forced me to pay attention to Bach’s composition, down to its every ebb and flow. Walerski is wonderful at big dramatic and high energy pieces, but his true genius shines through in this understated piece that relies on silence, stillness and following the full extents of contemporary arcs and flourishes. The dancers milk every movement until they absolutely can’t and the result is packed with beauty. “Silent Tides” is a masterpiece.
Heart Drive
The concluding piece of the evening was by far my favourite. It blew me away in a way I haven’t been blown away by a dance performance in years.
As the dancers appear on stage, it becomes clear by their full-sleeved vinyl bodysuits that bring attention to their muscular legs and glutes, that this piece is going to focus on the raw power of sexual desire.
The lighting mimics the insides of a Berlin sex club with red and white lasers reconfiguring the stage every ten minutes. The music too aligns with this raw energy. The choreography incorporates elements of humour, such as those of exaggerated pelvic thrusts, into portrayals of the animalistic authenticity of sex. Dancers do a sexy worm where they slap their hip bones on the ground out of desire like fish asphyxiating outside of water. They move together with potent passion and then pair off into trios and duos to engage with each other in high contact contemporary choreography, supporting each other in arcs through the air and placing other dancers on to each others’ forms in suggestive sexual positions.
There is a striking moment in which a male dancer places two dancers into such a position and then mimics masturbation while watching them. Then, out of the darkness, emerges another female dancer who positions herself in front of the original male dancer, and proceeds to watch him as he fantasizes about the earlier couple. This is clever commentary on the predominance of voyeurism in our technology-heavy culture, and how much of sex today happens in non-immediate ways and through screens.
The dance takes us through the immature urgency of sexual desire where it is irrational, temperamental, inelegant, humorous, and even ugly in its need, to intimate duets in which sex is a site for exchanging love, building self-esteem, acceptance and identity. These latter parts are emotional and slowed down. We arrive at them after the dancers dance in hypnotic circles in which the choreography escalates while incorporating elements of voguing, hip hop and earthy African dance.
Dutch choreographers Imre and Marne Opstal are known for their ground-breaking explorations of sexuality, gender and identity. They have created a stunning piece here that is of the moment and is absolutely un-ignorable. It is wide awake and yells in your face with sexiness and power. “Heart Drive” is a piece that I would want to watch over and over again!
Get your tickets to Ballet BC’s season here!
– Prachi Kamble