By, Joy Sable
2 min read
ByJoy Sable, Joy Sable
The acclaimed Israeli-born choreographer Hofesh Shechter and his company returned to Sadler's Wells last week with a short run of his trilogy barbarians. Offering three very different takes on the subjects of intimacy, passion and love, the works showcase the small troupe's talents.
The first part is the barbarians in love, the second is tHE bAD and the last, a duet entitled Two completely different angles of the same f---ing thing. (I could not help feel sorry for the editor working on the programme notes; the urge to correct all those upper and lower cases must have been irresistible.)
First performed at the beginning of 2015, the barbarians in love uses the dancers to explore chaos in the midst of a world of rules; they move as one, break into the occasional militaristic chant "We are not alone" and bring an intense energy to the stage.
All this is played out to brash electronic sounds combined with an ecclesiastic baroque score. The dancers are in white, pyjama-like outfits, the set is minimal, with only the brightest of stark spotlights which flicker on and off, focusing on the dancers and their convulsive movements.
Sometimes they move as one, as well drilled as any classical corps de ballet; at other points they break off into their own ragged solos.
Shechter's work is full of power and emotion
Occasionally, the audience is privy to Shechter's own innermost thoughts, spoken in a voice-over into the auditorium. The voice of actress Natascha McElhone gently questions him, and we, the audience, are eavesdropping on what appears to be a very intimate therapy session.
On this psychiatrist's couch we hear a confession of adultery ("whoopsy daisy") and his mid-life crisis. Is he being serious or is he just teasing us? Shechter is happy to blur the line between fantasy and reality.
At one point he asks if there is a psychiatrist in the audience. Intriguing - yes, certainly, but did the audience understand it? Were we meant to?
The second piece - tHE bAD - was, says Shechter, an attempt to make a piece without thinking. As an extra challenge to creativity, he worked on it at night time, and consequently there seems to be a sense of timelessness about it. Clad in all-over gold bodysuits, the dancers, now smaller in number, move and pose. At times they appear boneless, dancing with a fluidity which is compelling. It is, Shechter says, an "anything goes" piece, but it lacks focus and at times the audience is not sure whether to laugh or take it seriously.
It is not until the final part of the trilogy that the audience can see the relationship between the three works. Two completely different angles of the same f---ing thing begins with a pas de deux exploring a couple's feelings; a combination of boredom, anger and passion. The man is dressed in lederhosen - we never find out why, but that is typical Shechter, playing with us again.
This work premiered in Berlin, so maybe there's a clue. Eventually all the dancers return to the stage for some sort of resolution. "The duet is the reason for them to exist," says Shechter. "It's what this trilogy is about."
Shechter's work is always challenging, anarchic, full of visceral power and emotion. He puts demands upon his audience; like many of his other creations, barbarians is not easy viewing, but then it is not meant to be. His dancers are an international group from Europe, the Middle East and the Far East and perform with intense commitment.
You would be hard put to find a contemporary company with more passion and energy.
This programme is definitely not for children. The warning in the promotional material states that there is loud music, explicit lyrics and nudity. The nudity, when it comes at the end of the first piece, is so dimly lit as to be virtually impossible to make out. And the choreography at this point is mercifully slow, so any unwanted jiggling is kept to a minimum. One cannot help but recall Sir Robert Helpmann's famous comments on dancers appearing naked: "The trouble with nude dancing is that not everything stops when the music stops." Enough said.