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Seeing a world in dance
Sylvie Guillem -
6000 Miles Away
Birmingham Hippodrome
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IT begins with
an eye in a door. It’s a huge eye which pretty much fills the door and
it looks just a little startled. The film travels across the face taking
in the other eye. And then the face slowly moves backwards until it
becomes recognisable as dancer Sylvie Guillem.
Moments later her hands reach up and over the top
of the entranceway and suddenly film and real life merge.
As she steps out from behind the screen which is
the gateway, we see the former Paris Opera and Royal Ballet dancer
looking somewhat dowdy in a floral blouse, green cardigan and mustard
skirt.
Then, childlike, she takes her first steps awa y
from security. For the next 20 minutes Guillem, pictured, is like
a little girl lost in a world of naiveté created by Mats Ek for his work
Bye.
Set to a Beethoven piano sonata, it is a fun
piece. At times the music has a jazz-like quality to it and Ek’s
choreography takes on a ragtime staccato movement which plays with the
rhythm. At others Guillem is totally static – whether in pose, lying on
the floor or undertaking a jagged handstand.
Bye is the final piece in a triple bill performed
at Birmingham Hippodrome at part of International Dance Festival
Birmingham 2014. Produced by Guillem and Sadler’s Wells it sees the
former ballerina equally comfortable with contemporary dance.
In Rearray, created by William Forsythe, Guillem
is partnered by Massimo Murru in a work which showcases Guillem’s
incredible control, fluidity and flexibility. It’s easy to see why
Guillem, who trained as a gymnast before taking up dance, quickly caught
the eye of the then Paris Opera artistic director Rudolf Nureyev.
Decades later she is still an incredible force of talent and skill.
To a somewhat jarring score by David Morrow, the
two dancers worked in tandem – at times reflecting each other’s
movements, sometimes in synchronicity, sometimes not. And yet each time
they pull apart they are inevitably drawn back together with a force of
stage magnetism.
Opening the bill is Jiri Kylian’s 27’52” with
music created by Dirk Haubrich with its basis in work by Mahler. This
sees dancers Aurelie Cayla and Lukas Timulak dancing a series of
intricate balances and lifts. As both divest their tops and naked skin
takes over an element of homogeneity enters the picture – with each
mirroring each other and switching places so seamlessly that at times it
is difficult to see which arm or leg belongs to who.
It is a varied programme which sums up what IDFB
is all about. With choreographers hailing from Czechoslovakia, Sweden
and the USA and dancers from France, Italy and Slovakia this one
production takes us round the globe in 90 minutes.
Add to that the fact that Guillem chose to call
the production 6000 Miles Away in recognition of the Japanese who
suffered the effects of the 2011 Tsunami and it certainly hits the
‘international’ target. To 07-05-14.
Diane Parkes
06-05-14
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