The French choreographer Philippe Decouflé and his Company DCA brought Panorama to Japan’s Saitama Arts Theatre this weekend to kick off his Japan tour. The choreographer and director of the opening ceremony of Albertville Olympics in 1992, Decouflé is known for his creativity and magical spectacles.
His latest work Panorama (premièred in 2012) is a collage of his previous works, from his early masterpiece Codex to later ones such as Shazam! and Iris. Iconic scenes from these works are carefully patchworked together so there is utterly no time at all for the audience to become disengaged. There were even quite a number of children in the audience and we could often hear their laughter. Although some of his works are 30 years old, not one of them seemed dated – almost as though they were fresh from the oven – and all these diverse elements were packed into 90 entertaining minutes.
Decouflé is skilled in creating sense of wonder in each of his works and combining new ideas from other genres such as video games, acrobatics and circus. His use of aerials is especially eye-catching; far more than dancers floating in the air by elastic harnesses, but actually interacting with each other, with a humorous, witty – almost slapstick – effect.
Another stunning visual effect is shadow playing, which starts with comical shadow projections by hand but develops into beautiful images of the dancer’s silhouette cast onto the screen, where she dances and responds to a second shadow. I am sure that no other choreographer has ever visualized the idea of combat video games into dance with such comical effect, while still serving the beauty of dance. The high-heeled glamorous men and women carrying the sign saying “You Win” were hilarious.
Decouflé’s talent is shown though his ability to shift suddenly from serious and serene movement into comedy. Yet even when events are highly comedic, there is still a sense of marvel, endless imagination, and beauty in the movements. Switching gender roles, with men in tutus and high-heels, is another of his gimmicks. Indeed, some of the men are dressed as germs, and a woman is even dressed as a deer and performs a lyrical solo. But although some figures are very unusual, there are nevertheless moments when we can feel the joy of watching a truly breathtaking movement.