last night I went to the ballet. partly for research, partly to see inside the theater, partly to have a fancy night out, partly to watch people and be a part of another world for an evening. anyways I didn’t expect to like it, the actual ballet part, as much as I did- I mean I really liked it, a lot. the dancers were not only graceful and beautiful as would be expected, but the minimal sets combined with the fantastic lighting and video works told very human stories based in the contemporary urban landscape. it brought me back to the subject of choreography: the city as an ongoing choreographed performance with all the characters and rhythms and movements that were expressed in the ballet in the everyday, looking at these movements not as mundane but unique- the commonness of the ordinary as uncommon.
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the show was composed of three short works: As One / Rushes / Infra.
the first, As One, was by choreographor Jonathan Watkins:
‘Watkins says that he was inspired by watching a block of flats from the outside, witnessing so many people inhabiting separate spaces, side by side, without connection. The action is thus divided into five ‘slices of life’, representing typical urban living patterns: from the sociable to the isolated, the career-obsessed to the couch potato.
Despite throwing a spotlight on urban isolation, the new piece is not bleak in tone. There are quirky observational details and touches of wit and social parody. The final note is of hope, when all the dancers come together as a harmonious group, embracing their differences. The work is primarily about ‘knowing who you are,’ says Watkins. Its title is thus understood as a reference to both man’s unique identity and place within a wider social group.’ (http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/ballet/asone.aspx)
the last work, entitled Infra, was all of our favorite. what especially made the work for me was the continuous motion of white LED pedestrians moving across a screen that was hung above the dancers, set against a dark stage. a contrast of the very human aspect of the dancers to the outlined digital figures just walking, walking, oblivious to the world below - a crowd made up of people.
‘Most radically, it has a very human narrative. A raised screen above the stage functions like an overhead walkway, supporting a sequence of bright electronic figures, designed by Julian Opie. As they march and stroll in confident progression, they are like a neon abstract of a city crowd. And it is McGregor’s 12 dancers, in the shadows below, who embody the tumult of thoughts and emotions that seethes beneath their skins.
Much of the work is divided into small sections, each of which captures a moment or a mood. Playing over these emotional snapshots is Max Richter’s score. Richly melodic piano and strings are overlaid with sampled sounds of urban life to shuttle us between delight in the ballet’s beauties and anxiety for the characters it creates. At its climax, one dancer sinks to the floor as her body is racked with some sudden grief. We stare at her, shocked and uncertain, then suddenly the stage is flooded with lines and lines of dancers, mimicking Opie’s figures as they march unseeingly past. It is an astonishingly bold and precise image - the intensity of personal anguish located within the blind, daily routines of the city.’ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2008/nov/15/dance)
