One of the many things I like about NDT as a dance institution is the way in which they curate mixed programmes that speak to each other in meaningful ways. NDT 2’s latest evening premiered one new work by Noé Soulier, a choreographer who is new to me, flanked by two juggernauts of the contemporary dance landscape and permanent fixtures of the company, Jiří Kylián and Marco Goecke. NDT 2 showcased their commitment and passion, dancing with wisdom beyond their years.
Blast a Universe is an evocative title for an evening of dance. The three pieces had a different approach and style though there was a connective tissue that suggested that the universes in question were deeply personal, cultivated from within.
It is without a doubt that NDT as we know it would not exist without Kylián. In his later works for the company, as with Sleepless, the signature Kylián style is apparent though more conceptual and minimalistic, a distillation of a dance language that has become so distinct, it has now become almost “classical” in its own right. The lyrical musicality is so exact that much like Balanchine, the music, based on Mozart composed by Dirk Haubrich, becomes fully realised inside of the movement, as though the dance and music are enmeshed into one entity.
Kylián is a master of space and scale, playing with the audiences’ sense of perception. A solo opens the piece where a dancer is lit to cast a shadow on panelled curtain the length of the stage. As she dances, her shadow moves in tandem, casting shapes on the panelled wall creating a distorted, almost alien-like reflection; her solo becoming a duet with her shadow-self. Staring at the curtain, the dancer moves closer to the wall, using her “shadow arms” to peel away a corner of the curtain, revealing a black void on the other side.
The opening section of the piece is perhaps its most interesting. Dancers begin to reveal themselves through the various slits in the panels where limbs that seem connected to one person are disassembled and reassembled and bodies appear to hover, mimicking a weightless reality. These theatrical elements teetered on the right side of innovative without falling into shtick.
I was most riveted by Noé Soulier’s piece, Shut Your Eyes and See, the only new work on the programme created on NDT 2. What captivated me was a sense of newness that is sometimes hard to come by in a contemporary dance landscape that is abundant with choreographic talent. There was an approach to the performance that felt like an explorative unfolding. In its opening section the dancers entered as individuals, performing solos that contorted their limbs that had an alluring aloofness to it. The way the dancers tilted their heads and stared down the audience was almost feline, a glint of knowing in the eyes that felt seductive and secretive. Moments where the dancers performed together had a kind of contact improvisational quality to it, bodies morphing into each other to create one being of interconnected appendages that extended in new configurations.
The group work towards the final climax of the piece was a high point. Here the dancers moved in unison, performing an endless series of steps that hurled their bodies into intricate looping patterns. The inherent inquisitiveness of the movement paired with the techno rhythms of James Manning and minimal-chic costumes design of Chiara Valle Vallmoni left me breathless and wanting for more.
NDT 2 ended the evening with Marco Goecke’s The Big Crying. A work set to the music of Tori Amos, the piece is said to be a personal expression of the choreographer after the death of his father. As an Associate Choreographer with NDT Goecke has a longstanding artistic relation with the company. It is apparent that, much like Kylián, the dancers are very much at home in his universe that it’s hard to imagine any other company performing his work at such a level of artistic integrity. I find Goecke’s work in general to be powerful yet demanding. In a comparable fashion to Soulier’s cat-like rhythms, there is a manic feral energy to Goecke that is just as much abrasive as it is brilliant. Kudos to all the dancers who performed in all three pieces. Eliana Hayward was a particular stand out. All the dancers seemed almost surprised at the rousing ovation we gave at the end when they needn’t have been. It was well-deserved.
