2023-09-24 09:11:28
At the start of the season in the Festspielhaus St. Pölten, the proverbial show went off on Saturday evening with the brilliant guest performance of the GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, which presented two very different pieces: “Contemporary Dance” by Hofesh Shechter and “SAABA” by Sharon Eyal. The audience responded with enthusiastic applause.
Both Shechter and Eyal come from Israel’s Batsheva Dance Company, both using pulsating beats and clubbing rhythms. But otherwise the two productions are very contradictory. While Shechter conveys a colorful and vital attitude to life, Eyal’s dancers seem automatically artificial: two very different choreographic approaches.
“Contemporary Dance” is almost programmatically titled, the work actually contains an extensive current movement repertoire. Fast-paced, explosive, full of variety, exciting at every moment, intense to the point of trance, but not without humorous moments. As soon as a collective pattern appears visible, it is already broken up, individually modified and contrasted.
The effective lighting direction does the rest to bring a powerful show to the stage. In between, Bach’s “Air” sounds surprisingly – and is choreographed as sensitively as it is up to date. And finally there is Sinatra’s “My Way” – by no means maudlin, but also with a touch of irony. An experience in which amazement and joy of life can be found.
After the break there was a change. Instead of the colorful scenery, repetitive poses in skin-colored costumes, designed by Dior chief designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, now characterize the event, which is characterized by strict hypnotic structures. A certain monotony seems to be inherent in the piece as a continuous design element; accuracy and concentration are in the foreground as stylistic devices. Overall, an Austrian premiere for which GöteborgsOperans Danskompani deserves the greatest respect.
(S E R V I C E – www.festspielhaus.at/de/kalender/goeteborgoperans-danskompani)
#choreographic #opposites #start #season #Pölten