When the
Introdans’ performance “Oorlog en Vrede” (War and Peace) was being performed in
the theatres, a lot of people went for the second piece “De Groene Tafel” from
the German choreographer Kurt Jooss. This nearly 83 year old piece can only be
performed if everything, from the steps to the light settings, is exactly the
same as when the piece had its premier in 1932 and this is just one of the reasons why
this is an extraordinary piece. But the first piece on the program, ”No Longer
Silent” by the American choreographer Robert Battle was at least as interesting
and, to my personnel opinion, more impressive.
The stage of
the big theatre of The Maaspoort (Venlo) was on November the 6th 2013 filled
with nearly 20 dancers dressed in a relatively simple, dark grey costume with
behind them the stage horizon in a sepia or grey color. It almost occurred like
a moving photograph. And even though the dancers were not dressed in striped
clothing, there were several similarities between this setting and pictures of
the concentration camps. Not by accident of course, as the choreographer stated
that he had been very inspired by these pictures. It seemed like, with the changing
of the horizon from grey to purple and red,
Battle tried to bring the pictures out of the history books back to
life.
As usually
with Introdans, the piece was very well rehearsed and was executed quite neatly.
The movements were synchronously and very nicely timed with the music, which was
from the Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff. The choice for this music was not only
based on the music itself. During the Second World War Schulhoff’s music was banished
from Germany because the composer was Jewish and sympathized with communism. Eventually
he was deported and died in a concentration camp from Tuberculosis. This really
shows how Battle used symbolic and adds historical layers to the piece which
makes it for the informed viewer even more interesting.
Even the
movements were telling a clear story without becoming too tawdry. The running with
the hand palms facing front, for example, looked like a sign of surrender. Or
the dancers hitting an invisible ceiling trying to escape from something.
Although Battle used a lot of canons, which is risky since they are a bit
predictable, the piece did not become boring. By giving the canon a slightly
different twist every now and then, the viewer remained interested. Also the bench which was in the back of the
stage was used in various different ways to make the canons unpredictable. By lifting half of it up to make it a oblique
line on the back ground for example.
After all
this amazing piece is definitely worth going to the theatre for. It is definitely
a good choice for the “Oorlog en Vrede” program. It fits of course with
the theme but it is also very different from The Green Table. Therefore
these two pieces are not in competition with each other. They exist next to
each other and show two very different but both interesting views on War.
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