By Peter Maddern
One of the stunning aspects of Wim Vandekeybus and his company, Ulimate Vez’s, performance last night is that it was first undertaken just over 25 years ago. There aren’t many movements in the arts world where a work badged as ‘contemporary’ could appear so fresh and well-honed as a form of art a quarter of a century on.
But that is just one of those stunning aspects. The opening movement will long remain in memory – a bare stage with just one school desk placed towards the rear is then lit by eight shafts of parallel, ground level light and occupied by two male dancers who move, gyrate (even frazzle like a Morteined beetle) to the occasional beats thumped on that desk. It was an exhilarating start.
The themes then created were sustained thereafter with the music mostly of a percussive nature and the dance movement often seemingly random and distorted but quickly regrouping into at times wonderful forms. By the end the dancers were also banging away in a closing movement which tested their stamina while demanding their sustained poise in most unusual ways.
For this reviewer, the inventiveness of the work within the themes laid out was what most captured the attention. For example, the second movement revolved around the progression, building up, tossing, catching and then destruction of white blocks of various sizes (that looked and seemingly had the composition of Jiffy fire starters) around the stage, then the merest of feathers were beautifully blown up and around and beyond that a scene that seemed to combine teenage phone booth mania with an advanced form of musical chairs. That all delivered with a wonderful sense of space on the stage for all the nine dancers who by its end all looked thoroughly adrenalised and beat.
This year’s Festival may lack a Morricone moment but its dance program, amongst those who know, I suspect will long live in memory and this work will be mentioned highly in their dispatches. For modern or contemporary dance fans, this master work is a must.
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