Re-Exam of Alessandro: Le Chat Noir

Le Chat Noir - Ed Wubbe

 

Scapino… One of the most respected, acclaimed and well-known dance companies in the Netherlands. This rather large company is known for it’s combination of classical technique and contemporary dance.

However, their latest piece Le Chat Noir was not in line with their reputation. I went to see the piece at the stadstheater in Arnhem on the 11^th of May. Ultimately it wasn’t a fully thought out or executed performance with a multitude of problems varying from occasional improper lighting and costumes, to unvaried movements, to attempts on humor that fell flat more often than not.

 

This piece was created choreographed by Marco Goecke, Felix Landerer and Ed Wubbe using music from Erik Satie, Claude Debussy, Jacques Brel. It was also presented alongside the piece Holland which was a much more enjoyable piece by comparison.

 

 

Note: Le Chat Noir is a rather famous cabaret in Paris were the master of ceremonies will present various acts of the night.

   

I will get to the problems with this show later but first I wish to mention some of the positives. First, in terms of movement, dance and expression… this piece is exactly what you expect off Scapino. It contains the classical/contemporary mix that we all expect out of them. The dancers contain an impeccable technique, fluidity and mastery of their style. One could spend the entire 50 minutes just to observe them. On top of this they played their roles in the piece very well with a great deal of expression on their faces. One section in the piece (although short) was very interesting and beautiful to see which was when all the dancers came on with costumes filled with chimes panging to life as they moved. The sound honestly reminded me of old movies displaying Le Chat Noir in the rain with the buzzing sign outside in the dark sky of Paris. And there are a couple more moments in the piece brings more of these beautiful images.

But beyond this… the rest is rather plain and boring at best. For starters this piece was very French (for lack of a better word). The idea for this was everything and everybody was a mime or miming and strange. Thus of course the corresponding color would be black and white. The most color you would see in the performance is the unpainted arms and hands of the dancers. This is fine, however one must then make sure that the stage is well lit in the right areas or the stage would appear to be dull. They didn’t succeed. I occasionally had to squint to see their face which was cast in shadow and on top of this it just was generally very aesthetically unpleasing.

The costume design was horrible. For one costume in particular was essentially a kind of dress with the frame of a 1800s dress without the actual cloth and fabric. They wore the metal skeleton of the dress. I cannot understand why they included this look. It isn’t pretty, nor must it be easy to work with when partnering, nor does it seem to have any dramaturgical reason for being there.

Movement was often very repetitive. I specifically remember one of the leading dancers in particular which rarely used her arms. Almost completely relying on showing off her balance and flexibility of her legs (which after the first scene it becomes rapidly stale). Thankfully this was the worst of it. The others had more variety but it still left some form of unfulfilled expectation.

They also tried to include humor and small sketches of storytelling. However, this fell flat. Although the dancers got into their character very well… This over the top expressions and situations just simply didn’t hit. It always felt they are trying to be funny rather than actually being funny.

Finally, the last major problem with the piece was the choreography.  The piece almost never went along with the music. Although dance doesn’t necessarily have to follow the music one could easily tell they were following a certain idea that played alongside the music which (in my opinion) simply didn’t work at all. On top of this the scenes were boring, repetitive and ultimately forgetful. A couple days after seeing the performance I struggled remember certain moments in the piece. The last thing to mention on this topic is that, there was a constant theme of France and Paris (mimes, French music and odes, lust, romance, etc) but beyond that there wasn’t really much connecting everything together… it seemed almost like random fragmented scenes that were placed in near random sequential order. My reasoning for this is that they had a perfect sequence to end the piece which included wavy fluid gestures which I actually enjoyed but chose to continue and end in a sequence that causes the ending to be rather abrupt.

My concluding thoughts are this. This is a rather boring piece and a huge disappointment coming out of Scapino. It is possible that it was my viewing that was soiled by lack of proper preparations (incomplete costumes, bad lighting, etc). However, it still doesn’t excuse the general choreography of the piece. This piece isn’t aesthetically pleasing, doesn’t contain some form of message or demonstration, lacking connection, and doesn’t hold my attention even with the immaculate technique of the dancers. This piece to me failed to live up to the standers of a proper Scapino piece.

To all those who may be reading this, I will give you my suggestion. The piece presented alongside this (Holland). It is worth the money to go and see. And if you truly want to see Le Chat Noir, you forget the flow of the piece as a whole and look at the dancers for the mastery of their style, entertaining expressions and ability to go into character, for that is the saving grace of this piece.