THE DANCE OF THE REFINED BEAUTY

Nederlands Dans Theater opened BDF with the choreographies of Kylian and Lightfoot-Leon

If, with the artistic dance, the magic of unbelievable creations can be reached, that was done for the audience on the opening night of Belgrade Dance Festival by the choreographers and the dancers of the Nederlands Dans Theater, a top dance company in we could salute with proud ness our Zoran Markovic as well.

To retell what went on the stage of Sava Center in the three choreographies of astonishing expressiveness – “Wings of Wax” and “Tar and Feathers” of the great choreography magician of today Jiri Kylian and “Speak for Yourself” by the British-Spanish choreographers duo Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon – seems almost impossible, because it seams as the sufficiently convincing words are missing with which the enjoyment in the perfect contemporary dance could be described.

But then again, let’s at least try. Inspired by Breughel’s painting of Ikarus trying to fly towards the sky and doing it until the suns heat melts the wax from his wings, ten years ago, Kylian with the help of the music by Von Biber, Cage, Glass and Bach created the choreography “wings of Wax” as an abstract of the humans need to always go ahead, and higher. And his performers, in a magic way levitate on the stage space for a moment in slow-motion and then with furious jumps and turns, stopping the dance with, almost unnoticeable twitches of the hands and feet. Even the ending of this, most of all imaginative choreography is not related with Ikarus sad destiny, the duo that dances in the semidarkness brings us the feeling of serenity after a dramatic catharsis.

Smoke and rain are the visual companions of one of the unusual dance happening, that was created in 1999 by Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon. “Speak for Yourself” with the music by J.S. Bach and Steve Reich, the choreographers have imagined as the opposition of two principles that deny themselves, water and fire, through a dance were the bodies of the dancers break in different and original contractions and relaxations, and in the dynamic and rhythms that takes our breath away (the smoke) so that the physical presence of the water on stage (the rain) would bring relief to the melancholic accents. The visual aspect of every single movement, never mind if we are talking about the sliding through the water that is flooding the stage or the game of the hands in the watery dust, it was an almost mystical vision as in the poem by Tao Te Chin:’ Heaven and earth would come together/And gentle rain fall/Men would need no more instruction and/All things would take their course” that was the inspiration for the choreographers.

Kylian choreography “Tar and Feather” has a literature base as well and the premier was last year in The Hague. This time is one of the last texts by Samuel Becket “What is the Word”, which is only the base for Kylian’s abstract staging. His skilful dance dreams are joined by the music of Mozart, Haubrich and Tomoko Mukaiyama who played live on a piano that was placed high above the stage and it that way the mystic atmosphere of the choreography was fulfilled. And on the ground of the stage that is painted half by white and half by black lights, Kylian’s amazing perfect dancers performed with admirable easiness his dance routines full of imagination, sometimes tranquil, filled with inner energy and sometimes geometrically precise but always symbolic, clean and rekindled beautiful.

Now we can not make a statement a say that the performance of the Nederlands Dans Theater is going to be the highlight of Belgrade’s Dance festival. But, if the morning (beginning) shows how the day is going to be, then we have plenty of contemporary dance holidays a head of us.

Original text in Danas.