When Alain Platel started working with the dancers of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen a year ago, he asked them the question: "What would you like to see on stage these days?" He was told: beauty… comfort… embrace. Alain Platel is 67 years old. He no longer needs to prove himself and wants to gradually wind down. Perhaps this production is his opus magnum. It became an exploratory journey with many components.
A trio, complementary in art: music - Steven Prengels; scenography - Berlinde De Bruyckere; direction - Alain Platel made this production into an impressive experience. 'Ombra' is earthy and rich and combines stillness, pain, sparks of humor and beauty.
Prengels knows how to transform emotions in instrumental music, arias and choral work into a collage of old compositions by among others Bach, Beethoven, Samuel Barber, Mozart and then isolate them and give them renewed artistic context in relation to new original work.
De Bruyckere has a great affinity with nature. She overflows with ideas about organic architecture, based on how things in nature are constructed. On stage a gigantic sprawling tree 12 meters high. She is fascinated by the resilience of trees, how they sway in the wind. This mega sculpture is not a monolith, but vibrates and bends when dancers climb into it.
With his intelligent, discerning gaze Alain Platel knows how to fully capture the potential of dancers and choir. Inclusivity is paramount for him. As an orthopedagogue he worked with traumatized people. Their peculiar behaviors and convulsions appear again in his visual language. Where is the boundary between physical control and loss of control, between possession of the body and being possessed? He sees the beauty of the ugly, deviant, damaged body where he sets joy and dignity against it.
He adds sign language to it. Spoken language is linear. Sign language is four-dimensional, uses space in combination with time, facial expressions and the body. Platel knows how to bundle all these elements and fill the space with pulsating energy that is simultaneously spiritual, cathartic, sensual and intelligent.
When the front curtain rises, centrally stands that mighty tree, a mass of people around it in admiration and a hushed silence. 'Ombra'… a tree that lovingly and tenderly offers shade. A place where people find rest in dark and turbulent times. In that shade it is lovely to linger. After a few minutes a frail voice rises from the silence. TK Russell, the Congolese singer, sings a-capella the bravura aria 'Ombra mai fu', a conversation with a tree. This idea comes from the opera Xerxes by Händel. An aria with a somewhat ironically intended text and yet it has become a beloved number in sorrowful circumstances. A curious echo of emotion.
The dancers of Opera Ballet Vlaanderen amaze again with their versatility. There is dancing on pointes with both women and men. They each have their own moves in an orchestrated chaos that then
crystallizes again into a simultaneous series of movements by some dancers. It is playing with space: joking and then walking in step. The individual versus community.
The choir is involved in larger dance sequences, not with big movements, rather subtle ones: the raising of the shoulders and in three descending pulses back to normal, or making small rotating movements to the left and right in place. The power of collectivity speaks from this. When singing Beethoven's men's choir from Fidelio, the text is converted into sign language with the hands. These simultaneous movements are a dance in themselves. The dancers of the OBV company move not only on the ground but also climb into the tree. Nestling in it. Shivering at the beauty is the multi-voiced, poetic and world-famous 'Agnus Dei' by Samuel Barber. The hands are brought to the mouth and eyes in a ritualistic cadence. A symbolic gesture for being mute and blind to the suffering of the world. Prengels also provided a beautiful solo part for TK Russell.
In a slowmotion to baroque music the dancers intertwine with each other. A peculiar tableau. You no longer know to whom the arms or legs belong. The human tangle becomes more and more compact. Until it gradually falls apart again. I was so intrigued and concentrated looking at the dancers that I was surprised to discover that the tree had fallen silently. Immediately there was care and concern. The environment, nature deserves our attention. The branches were supported, swaddled.
'Ombra' is a bombardment of visions, tastes, intentions. One of the dancers crawls and hangs in the tree like a lithe little monkey. This production does not have the punch of C(h)oeurs. Alain Platel's fighting spirit has given way to restraint. Then the performance gradually moves towards the end. Where the shadow of the tree at the beginning is sung about in 'Ombra mai fu' Prengels placed the sublime 'Soave sia il vento' from Mozart's Così fan tutte "May the wind be gentle, and the waves calm. And may each of the elements respond to our wishes." The entire cast moves slowly forward while depicting the rippling of the waves with their arms. Prengels brings together both TK Russell, all dancers, the choir and orchestra in this hopeful melody. The serenity that emanates from this final song is like a warm blanket that wraps around you. 'Ombra' is a multi-voiced production that does not try to impose one compelling aesthetic or formal language. Through the setting, music, dance and eloquent body language you are pinned to your seat. It is a moment to recover from the emotion.
'Ombra' a production with an elusive dimension. An encounter between singers, dancers and musicians, each with their own background, but also between composers from different periods. Performers who excel in their field one by one. The audience was overwhelmed and delighted and brought a long applause as a tribute to the creativity and dedication of the entire cast and also to the kindred spirit of Alain Platel: the great Gerard Mortier.
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- WHAT; 'Ombra'
- WHO: direction, Alain Platel, musical concept and composition: Steven Prengels, scenography: Berlinde De Bruyckere, singing: TK Russell, choir and orchestra Opera Ballet Vlaanderen choir
- WHERE & WHEN: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Antwerpen, 31 March 2024
- PHOTOS: © Koen Broos