Kukai Dantza celebrates its twenty years by paying a spectacular tribute to all dance

2023-05-18 13:12:09

Carrying out a ritual (no matter its nature), involves the invocation of a “foundational moment”, something that is updated each time it is played again. Consider that we, the spectators, accessed the Green room of the Teatros del Canal without differentiating between the seating space and the stage. This was accentuated as soon as the start of And now that?given that little by little the musicians and dancers were incorporated as if they were not going to act.

And now that? It is outlined as a work that seeks to give new meaning to dance in all its areas. That is to say: the holidays, the folkloric, the ancestral, etc… The fact is that they put a series of resources into dialogue that, at the same time, composed a anthropology that allows us to understand human manifestations by “dancing” them, not explaining them. Facilitating that this work can be understood and celebrated anywhere in the world, and by anyone.

Photo: Mendi Ururuzuno

For this company, the members of this Basque company used a series of concepts and structures from contemporary performing arts, so that various languages ​​and dance traditions came to light that were able to enrich each other, while remaining faithful to their respective origins. staging to the contemporary as one of the “seats” where all languages ​​and traditions come together, to ensure its conservation and development. behold in And now that? It is not possible to speak of “the novelty”, “the outdated”, or “the classic”, but these professionals limited themselves to giving an offering to all the dance.

The live music of a chamber orchestra was added to the contemporary music that came out of the loudspeakers, it did not saturate the spectators and dancers, it did not “force coexistence”… Making the musical work that was in charge of Pascal Gaigne, was a necessary ally so that everything I am telling you about is consumed throughout the entire piece. In equal measure I would talk about the lighting, because the lighting of the room was interspersed with the spotlights that the dancers carried at the beginning of the piece; with the led bars with which at a certain moment, they were distributing to the public in various spaces; etc… Taking to the extreme the idea that lighting is a fundamental part of the dramaturgy of a scenic piece.

Photo: Mendi Ururuzuno

In parallel, the members of Kukai Dantza composed a work that there is no way to be seen in a single way, unless one sets a kind of “route” each time one sees it again. This supposes situate viewers as an individual who selects what they see, rather than a receiving being. Except in the last part, in which this “initial dispersion” evolved to congregate all the performers inside an ellipse that we, the spectators, delimited. Giving rise to a synthesis of all the premises and variables that had been put into play during the performance of this work directed by Jon Maya.

For what I tell you and much more, for me And now that? It’s one of the best tributes to dance I’ve seen so far. I find it fascinating and beautiful how all the professionals involved in this project put their rigor, their camaraderie, their knowledge, their experience at the service…, to express unconditional love for their respective trades and traditions. Really, witnessing work like this makes one want to see more dance, and why not say it, start dancing until the last of our days.