It is rare to see a triple bill of abstract works that are as diverse as they are captivating. Jean-Christophe Maillot and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo have achieved a win with this one and done it all with impeccable style.
Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour, premiered in 2008 with San Francisco Ballet, is being staged in numerous cities across the globe and it suits this company well. Its ever growing popularity is down to exceptionally beautiful, fluid choreography that skilfully echoes Ezio Bosso’s mellifluous, rippling score. Diaphanous, shimmering costumes (Jasper Conran) make the dancers look particularly otherworldly but it is the shaping of the lifts, the ebb and flow of the continuous movement that sweeps you up, envelops you in a shroud of twinkling, twilight zone warmth. Peter Mumford’s clever lighting emphasises the undulating bodies whether in silhouette or shafts of subtle definition.
Performances were excellent and there were many moments that showed Wheeldon's supremely lyrical choreography in a fresh light. Especially good were the three main couples: Lydia Wellington and Alessio Scognamiglio, Laura Tisserand and Ige Cornelis and Lou Beyne with Jérôme Tisserand. In the male duet, Alexandre Joaquim and Michele Esposito gave searingly good accounts of this fleeting, dynamic passage of scintillating invention. Always a highlight, the speed and synchronicity captured all that the audience required to confirm that we were watching exceptional talent.
The ubiquitous Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar bring an entirely different offering to the table. If you are new to Eyal’s work, it is possible you will feel that you have entered some sort of alternative universe. Classically trained dancers are tasked with recreating their techniques, discarding any semblance of grace and embodying something that borders on the grotesque. If you are familiar with Eyal, you know more or less what you’re in for.
In Autodance, her ‘go to’ composer, Ori Lichtik, gave us his usual, thudding impetus. It sounds much like his other scores, and the choreography is also in the same vein. And yet, it's pretty compelling. Eyal’s short ‘poem’ in the programme does not enlighten – somewhat bizarre. Autodance began with a female dancer strutting meaningfully around the outside of the stage. She walked with pointed determination. Torso thrust forward, buttocks backwards – an Eyal posture that has surely become her signature stance. A male dancer joined her and appeared to be shadowing her. The dancer on this occasion was Joaquim once again. He has clearly grasped the essence of Eyal's idiosyncratic movement base – the element of not being pretty, but being bold. Extraordinary!
Other dancers joined in, equally committed. Sometimes one broke away, at other times, the uniformity and the quirky, jerky movements resulted in a line of exacting head movements which were surprisingly effective.
But for all that one can wholeheartedly admire the performances, so alien to the norm, Eyal’s choreography is built on a limited vocabulary. Her work is sculptural, brave but repetitive. And it lacks aesthetics. Rebecca Hytting’s ‘costume’ designs are simply flesh coloured underwear – not for the first time. The dancers inspired awe and it is understandable that this kind of work brings interesting challenges for them. However, I cannot help wondering what direction Eyal’s strikingly original voice will take and how she will develop her particular brand of choreography further.
Maillot’s glorious Vers un pays sage was the grand finale. John Adams’ propulsive Fearful Symmetries, played by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, was the undeniable driver in this breathtaking display of energetic sublimity. Everything from flying lifts, running at high velocity and dazzling virtuosity, filled this hugely satisfying 1995 work. Inspired by his own father’s art, this was pure dance heaven. The stamina required to pull this off was starkly in evidence, a fine example of elegant agility.
Eminently watchable, the company are in tremendously good form and it would be difficult to find a triple bill that displayed such contrasting forms of dance. More importantly, it is a programme that I would happily watch again (and again!). A sure sign of success.
Deborah's trip was funded by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
