BE Festival

Birmingham Rep

Thursday, 26th June, 2015

*****

Tristissimo

ITALIAN dance duo C&C from Italy made their entrance to the BE Festival on Thursday and explored the theme of desire.

Based on Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde, C&C performers Carlo Massari and Chiara Taviani created an intense and powerful piece that showed the ultimate need for contact, but never achieving it. In an interestingly poignant and funny performance, they took inspiration from various sources and created a poetically intense narrative through their skill of visual movement.

They danced on a bare white floor which alluded to the vulnerability of the characters portrayed through their slick movement. Massari and Taviani had excellent skills, but the beauty of this performance was shown when they came together in an intensity of emotion and expression through beautiful choreography to create their story.

The use of props was a touching element complementing the story and feelings of what they wanted to express. A long weave of hair was used to create beautiful and funny imagery to represent an incredibly complex relationship. The charming addition of music highlighted their skill and precision of dance.

With an echo of sadness, Massari and Taviana showed a strong representation of a closeness that can never be achieved between two people and offered their unique way of telling the story through their captivating form of dance.

Devoration

Theatre du Baleti are a daring dance company from France who have no fear. Their piece spoke so loud and resonated with the audience about the idea of victim and that there is never a positive gained through war.

This piece is incredibly hard-hitting and equally as movinTheatre du Baletig. The company of Eleven performers delivered message full of impact.

Their piece started with a vague picture, allowing the audience’s mind to wonder as to what the piece was going to convey. As the story went on, nudity played an integral part to the piece and was certainly a clear message to represent the frailty of the victim. Through the performers bodies, we saw pain and pleasure resonate through every limb of the anatomy. The nudity was unexpected, but the audience did not seem phased because it worked perfectly well with the concept of the struggle for power and the tragedy of the everyday person being the victim.

Theatre du Beleti showed the idea of pain and suffering on a wide and universal scale, as well as an individual and basis. A powerful moment was seen when a performer stood in front of multiple microphones, which gave a booming effect of sound, and listed wars throughout the history of the world in French. As we looked at the English surtitles, the hard-hitting effect of the vastness of war provoked thoughts as to the never ending victim.

The performance ended with seeing the victim in a domestic setting. Fantastic movement and choreography was shown which created a huge impact as the eleven performers created a strong ensemble.

In the last sequence, we were drawn to a group of brides, firstly being shown affection and tenderness by their respective grooms. As the sequence went on, the audience were opened to a dark and sinister world until a faded blackout, showing the escalation of violence and pain between each person.

Theatre du Baleti tested the boundaries of pain and pleasure, fantastically highlighting each extremity. Through the unbelievable skill of each performer and a thought-provoking concept, it invited a whole range of ideas and areas of discussion for the audience.

Athletes

Riccardo Buscarini are from the UK and Italy and presented their interpretation of the relationship between human and technology.

Performers Harriet Bone, Karolina Kraczkowska and Victoria Hoyland presented a show that was intense and intimate, giving a close insight of their opinion of man and machine.

We watched with a complete white wash over the stage. Performers were dressed in crisp white suits covering the entirety of their bodies, leaving nothing but the face to be seen. They performed on a bare stage of white canvas, indicating a mechanical online world.

The production was technically brilliant, challenging the audience to think about the superiority of the machine, or the intelligence of man. Each performer demonstrated their own skill of movement and as they worked together, creating a strong imagery..

With the addition of a futuristic lighting design by Maxime Franzetti, we were instantly taken to their futuristic landscape. The backdrop of music was used to a minimal effect, allowing the audience to be taken in by performance alone, which created an eeriness and gave way to the unknown.

The performance challenged and dared what we think about every day, the unknowing of the future and how far technology can go in the future. This performance was technically great and very unlike other performances of its’s kind.

Elizabeth Halpin

The festival runs to June 27. DETAILS AND BOOKING 

 

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