A production that starts in an integrating and promising way, but overall fails to fully convince. Sometimes the dance is abstract, then again narrative. It is difficult to put your finger on the coherence. Giving heavenly and sacred music a dancing translation is a delicate operation.
The styling of the dancers by Allessandro Sartori, Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, is subtle. The strict lines of the lighting design, United Visual Artists, can be found in the white/black suits of different cut. Only it is a pity that this sobriety is negated in the last part with long skirts and types of cowls. In doing so, you create the connotation with the robes of priests or knights! The music of Bach is timeless, transcends fashions and trends. The pure power of music as magical fuel for dancers, where far from all possibilities have been exhausted yet. Partly recorded music is used and partly live music is played by the Symfonisch Orkest Opera Vlaanderen conducted by Daniel Inbal and by soloist Eric Crambes.
Benjamin Millepied
Choreographer Benjamin Millepied can be described as a key player in the world of young choreographers. He was a principal dancer at New York City Ballet. Quite young, at the age of 33, he ended his dance career. He makes international waves with the ballet thriller 'Black Swan' starring Nathalie Portman. Subsequently they became a couple. He was director of the Paris Opera Ballet for a time. As a choreographer who likes to color outside the classical lines, he soon clashed with the conservative institution. Now he has his own ballet company. For 'Bach Studies' he examined Bach's composition techniques and became especially fascinated by the complex rhythms, canons, fugues and of course the brilliant counterpoint of the old master.
Bach Studies
For versatile artist Benjamin Millepied, just as for artistic director of ballet Vlaanderen Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, art is an open laboratory. They share the same philosophy about dance, but each has their own very distinctive style.
The opening image is a beautiful setting. A dark wall with two tall windows that envelop the scene in diffuse light. You imagine yourself in a stately manor house or a spacious monastery. To the impressive tones of Mattheuspassie Nr. 1 voor koor 'Kommt Ihr Töchter, Helft Mir Klagen' the dancers enter the stage from the side wings at the back right. They carry a piece of furniture, with the silhouette of a chair, go to the center and then walk in one line towards the front. In a few seconds the cosy scene is closed off. A kind of farewell to the worldly and falling back on oneself. The dancers find themselves in an empty space and are now dependent on themselves as atmosphere makers. The chairs are placed in a wide circle. The music sweeps the dancers into a moving universe. They make a free fall into another time period, which nevertheless seems strangely familiar.
In the second part the chairs move to the sides. Violinist Eric Crambes appears and plays Partita nr.2 in d voor viool. From an interplay of ideas and moods, a cultural amalgam, solos, duets and larger ensembles grow. The stage remains enveloped in diffuse lighting. Elongated LED strips light up vertically. First in stillness, but shortly after they begin to pivot on their axis. This movement is wonderfully distracting. Millepied uses classical basis in his choreography, onto which he grafts new movements. The male dancers in particular impress.
The second part after the intermission continues along the same lines. The LED lighting is used differently here. It seems as if the dancers are moving in a galaxy, carried on the wings of time. In the final part there is dancing to Passacaglia en Fuga in c voor orgel BWV582, music that simply knocks your socks off. Bach managed to capture the incomprehensible greatness of creation in masterful music. The dance goes in a kind of ordered chaos ever more compelling and penetrating until the magical final chord. As an audience member you are swept along by the physical power of the music and how movement comes into being for the human body, the sensual feminine and the virile masculine.
A beautiful and interesting ballet performance, although the various fragments are not of equal quality. Each has its own character, dynamics and time progression. Layered pieces full of nuance, soft lyricism and tempo changes. What information do you want to exchange with the audience as an artist? Do you reveal little or much information? It is always an exploration of rhythm and expression in flowing movements. Sometimes choreographer Millepied nails it, in other passages you feel him struggling. Understanding the musical architecture of Bach is an extremely difficult task even for the greatest. Nothing but praise for the dancers of Ballet Vlaanderen. The beautiful music of Bach is the strong backbone of the production.
- WHAT: World premiere 'Bach Studies'
- WHO: Ballet Vlaanderen, choreographer: Benjamin Millepied, styling of the dancers: Allessandro Sartori & Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, lighting design: United Visual Artists, music: Symfonisch Orkest Opera Vlaanderen conducted by Daniel Inbal and soloist Eric Crambes
- WHERE & WHEN: Opera Antwerpen, premiere 19 mei 2019
- PHOTOS: © Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7xMLES4aMg[/embed]