Sweden’s GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, famed for stretching the boundaries, offers an exciting, innovative, unpredictable double bill by French Belgian choreographer Damian Jalet and Israeli born choreographer Sharon Eyal, which is physically very demanding for the dancers.
SKID by Damian Jalet
There is a large, steep, brightly lit white slope, tilting at 34 degrees angle, which fills the whole stage. The dancers enter from either the top or the bottom to climb up or slide down, often through each other’s legs. They constantly lose control, tumbling, falling and vanishing into an abyss.
Dressed in black, the 17 dancers defying gravity look like mountain climbers or at times, depending on the lighting, like ants. The more dancers there are on the white slope with their elongated shadows, the more they look like an abstract painting. The very loud, pulsating electro-acoustic score is by Christian Fennesz. The lighting design is by Joakim Brink.
Whether yielding to or resisting gravity, Skid is a repetitive metaphor for life’s struggle to control the uncontrollable. I was reminded of Sisyphus and his boulder.
SAABA by Sharon Eyal
Another hypnotic, pulsating physically challenging piece; but this time with more choreography. The dancers on demi-pointe are in lace unitards, matching the colour of their skin, and so tight they look like naked sculpted mummies in a horror movie. The body language is slow, relentless and repetitive. Their bodies are exaggeratedly curved and bent. Bobbing, strutting, thrusting, they look sturdy, awkward, weird, ugly, half-human; bunched together, they might be a long-lost tribe from another age. The music is by
Ori Lichttik.
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