Inspirational sex on legs

Tavaziva Dance
Soul Inspired
The Place, 30 March 2006

In advance, the Soul Inspired programme advertised four pieces yet on the night, a new duet was quietly inserted second. “Last night” was an incredibly sexy, contemporary dance duet. Set to the deep throaty music of Tom Waits, it commenced in darkness, Paula Conduit and Diwele Lube shedding their previous costumes and standing, suggestively, facing and straining towards each other in the halflight. New clothes were flung on stage and skillfully they dressed each other in shadow. As the lights warmed they created a spellbinding, intimate love relationship through naturalistic and physically aware choreography and gorgeous, surprising partnerwork. The piece was tantalisingly short, yet beautiful, erotic and tasteful. Quite simply, hot stuff that was over too soon.

In fact, the whole programme left you wanting more. It hung together well; “Soul Inspired” capturing the spirit of the endeavour, a series of works fusing African and contemporary dance and exploring their limits for expressing the range of emotions invoked by cross cultural exchange, urbanity, community, love, loss and rage.

The opening piece, “Worlds Apart”, introduced the company as they met, engaged in banter and dance offs, diverting into earthy, urban influenced choreographed material in fragmented duets and ensemble pieces organically lead by one or other dancer, demonstrating the company working as an ideal community.

“Zyiri Mymoyo” or “It is in your heart” – a solo from the soul, is apparently performed by any member of the company. Tonight, Lerato Lepere took the stage in a beautifully controlled African, pop, contemporary dance solo, firmly buffeting off interruptions from her distracting off duty company colleagues to revel in her joyful solo, celebrating dance itself.

“Tribe” threatened with ominous red lighting and opened on an impressively aggressive encounter between Nicholas Watson & Paula Conduit to a surprisingly effective soundscape of waves washing over shingle. Watson went on to duel with strength, agility and daring with Lube, the only weak point arising when Lube appeared to despatch Watson, and an overwrought scene of regret ensued, before the body was hauled elegantly off stage over one shoulder. A graceful, balletic duet by Bawren Tavaziva and Arthur Kyeyune dressed as warriors rounded off the piece neatly contrasting the earlier raw aggression, yet they still managed to intimidate; eyes pinning the audience in place.

Tavaziva are a subtly emotional company, as exhibited in “Umdlal Kasisi”, ‘inspired by the death of a loved one’. The company open and close in homogenous mournful, processional mode, huddled together, disguised under sheeny headscarves. The contrasting moment of spiralling out into individual life and simulated fire as the flamy scarves unwrapped and flickered about them a joyfully effective moment. African dance passion and riotousness melded seamlessley into contemporary dance cool, the dancers again demonstrating their sense of community whilst allowing their individuality to shine through.

Tavaziva commanded attention with a diverse portfolio of choreography, performed with artistry, commitment, intensity and a sense of humour. I’d love to see them again. This was a thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting evening of new dance.

http://www.bawren.com/html/company.html

Take: Zimbabweans, drummers, good mates and anyone who likes sex

mkD: a beautiful back

mavin khoo Dance
devi: the female principle
Linbury Studio, Wednesday 22 March

You know you’re in trouble with a dance review when the notes you’re taking are describing the linear action of the piece rather than gut reactions to the work as a whole. That’s not to say I didn’t like “devi”. Discrete parts I liked a lot. There was serious intent, artful choreography and a brooding simply lit set, yet something was missing. Not quite enough flair, exoticism or emotional intensity to sustain a dedicated 45 minute performance at the Linbury (that’s 33.3p a minute in the arena seats) and not enough overt thematic work to carry it solely on “the sensuality and physicality of the awakening female spirit”.

It was a collage: film, sitar, splendid live vocals from Pushkala Gopal and Michael Harper, dancing solos, duets, interplay between vocalists & dancers, shifting light, an interesting soundtrack of beats overlayed by jingling, jagged breathing, utterances. It should have added up to a bigger whole. Performances were excellent. Ann de Vos has the most expressive (least flesh covered) back. Choreographer Cavanna made sure every bone took part in this performance. She is a gorgeous dancer; at the beginning sinuously rolling, writhing and arc-ing along the floor. I hesitate to say it, but she reminded me of Guillem in her skeletal mobility, build, charm and quirkiness. A very French style of dancing. Mavin Khoo delivered exquisite Bharata Natyam features as well as commendably complementing Ann’s leggy lithe langourousness from his diminuitive status. Only in this piece, about embracing the feminine, could you get away with such a mis-sized partnership. But they worked best in tandem, dancing as equals, twinned in costume and feminine virtuosity.

Right near the end, there was a moment: de Vos and Khoo, both collapsed on the floor, bathed in red light, suddenly locked eyes. There it was, the moment of emotional engagement. I held my breath, they looked away, the moon came out, it finished.  That was what was what I’d been waiting for, what was lacking. Technical excellence and intelligence applied throughout, cultural fusion choreography courtesy of Cavanna and Khoo was thoughtful and at times, beautiful, but this piece failed to move me. Dance needs this kind of innovation and ambition though and all credit to the company and its lowercase letters: mkD. Respect.

Take: South East Asian dance afficionados & those who know Mavin Khoo. 

Cool as zero degrees

Akram Khan / Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Antony Gormley / Nitin Sawhney
ZERO DEGREES
Sadlers Wells, 10 March 2006

This is just spellbinding: a major artistic collaboration throwing up a beautiful, original, resonant creation that enraptured for 75 minutes.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s body may well be made of the same foam rubber as Antony Gormley’s body cast mannequins, created for this piece. Incredibly fluid and floppy yet awesomely strong, controlled and poised. Khan looks compact in contrast, rippling with strength and inner dynamism, yet their partnership is physically complementary and their intimacy, with each other and the audience, is natural and compelling to witness. The opening sequence of the two men, head to head, intricately combining and brushing away forearms was beautiful.

The set is stunning; a huge arctic lit box except the glare is warm, not alienating. It seems to emphasise the smallness of the bodies within it, yet they dominate the space too. Gormley’s inanimate life size sculptured replica bodies flank the stage, get sat on, dragged about. One of them is eerily freestanding. A white line divides the stage from back to front sectioning the stage and making manifest zero degrees; a meridian, the borderline. Khan and Cherkaoui dance either side of it, cross it, disregard it. Unobtrusive, yet there.

The piece is framed by a story about a journey from Bangladesh to Calcutta narrated by the two performers in perfect unison, with excellent synchronised gestures, opening and spliced between dance segments. It’s realistic, unpretentious, amusing and raises issues of identity and considers death which the choreography goes on to explore.

Khan and Cherkaoui are on stage for the entire piece, save the last few moments. The choreography is incredibly simple in places – a sequence of energising, stage traversing turns and steps, rolling around on the floor, bouncing off the walls, exploring the space – and impossibly complex and physically demanding in others – Cherkaoui’s contortionistic solo section which left him lying at times, a lifeless body twisted the wrong way, yet reviving and filling with life again and defying his own bones, and Khan’s gliding, fitting, juddering, jerking finale, escalating out of Cherkaoui’s lament into an electrifying and disturbing climax.

Nitin Sawhney’s score is tremendous, performed live with the musicians at the back of the stage, occasionally lit through the backdrop, travelling a whole spectrum of ‘East meets West’. Particularly gorgeous use of cello and violin at the close of the piece takes the place of Khan and Cherkaoui, who abandon their dummies to the stage. The heartbreaking strings cast an emotional intensity around their absence.

This was truly a collaborative piece, suceeding not only on the merits of its charismatic and vastly talented performer/choreographers but in the combination of all its elements. Moving, innovative, beautiful and accessible: hooray.

Take: everybody you’ve ever liked.