A decade of European dance
Two months of dance performances by companies from around Europe is bound to contain some great moments
The European Dance Festival marks a decade this year with a colourful and rich programme. Steadily growing, this time it will host performances from 16 countries. So far, each festival has been marked by two or three fantastic performances and some not bad ones but what the festival offers every year is a great overview of the European dance and performance scene.
One big dance name that is coming this year is the wonderful Carolyn Carlson. Representing France, where she is based, the American choreographer will show her piece Down by the River. Her biography and resume are impressive – her dance career began with Alwin Nikolais, a modern dance pioneer who revolutionalised dance in the 1950s and 60s by making it abstract, non-narrative and non-dramatic. He introduced multimedia and prop use into dance, something that is heavily exploited in modern dance of today. Carlson merges formalism of classical modern dance with gestural and symbolic elements elegantly creating visual material infused with colour, shape and purity.
Down by the River, inspired by AR Ammons’ poem River, honours nature. Dancers try to represent shifts in nature, including seasons, river changes, stillness and frenzy. The second work shown will be Scene d’amour choreographed by Juha Pekka Marsalo, a student of Carolyn Carlson. With six dancers, the piece seeks to express the physical desire of fantasies. Movement and music give a unifying rhythm to the dancers.
The festival opened last night with a performance by Giulia Mureddu including a duet for a woman and puppet. The Italian company Compagnia DMA Teatrodanza will follow on Saturday with Apparsi alla Madonna by choreographers Luciana Lusso Roveto and Paolo Proietti.
Collectif Utilite Publique will present two works Fizz and Roberto choreographed by Corrine Rochet. The Swiss company works as a collective, collaborating on pieces. Fizz is a piece that begins grotesquely but quickly engages the audience. The theme is pleasure-seeking at any cost and this apparently includes rock stars, marionettes, and a tongue solo. This one I am looking forward to seeing!
Finnish choreographer Jyrki Karttunen will show his work Human Imitations. Described as a theatrical journey, the piece is performed by five male dancers, which should be a change for the Cyprus dance scene. The dancers perform monologues in pseudo languages ultimately resorting to movement as they fail to communicate verbally. The work alternates between theatrical and dance sections, intensity and humour, allowing the men to express personal movement.
Cynthia Gonzalez will show Break Thru for Germany. The Croatian duo Tala Dance Center will show work by their founding members Tamara Curic and Larisa Lipovac. The two women, who are responsible for starting the Young Choreographer’s Platform in Croatia, will show Man in Skirts, Women –Too!
Possibly one of the most interesting performances will be by the Austrian-based company Matsune and Subal. In Cyprus they will show their piece Untitled, 2004, which has been described as absurd, unusual, and “close to levels of normality.” The two men explore the idea of artists and art as a subject for consumption by utilising video, photography, and live performance. The piece centers around a single pedestal which presumably acts as an obvious metaphor.
The Czech company Ballet Prague Junior is composed of students of the Prague Conservatoire. They will show five works by choreographers from Hungary, Portugal and their native country. The young dancers are technically sound in the minimalist, neoclassical ballet style they will perform.
Polish choreographer Leszek Bzdyl’s work is based on writing of Witold Gombrowicz, who was forbidden during Communist rule. Several Witty Observations deals with the human condition and obsession with paradoxes. The dance alternates between pedestrian movement (the piece has been performed starting in the lobby) and highly trained dance vocabulary. Reflecting human behaviour, the structure is collage-like, a particularly eccentric sequence that is placed together to make sense to the viewers.
Like so many of the working choreographers in Europe today, Thomas Noone is Laban trained. He is clearly influenced by the aesthetic of the famous dance training ground resulting in very beautiful unforced, reductive movement. Crush deals with relationships without acting them out, narrative without symbolism. The second piece Crease acts as a study in geometric patterns of bodies, space, and rhythm.
The English entry is also a Laban-trained choreographer. Colin Poole Dance Theatre will present two works The Box Office and Bad Faith. The former is a solo by the choreographer himself who deals with issues of racism using stereotypes, including images of minstrels and violence. Bad Faith is a sensual duet for a man and woman dealing with today’s influences on relationships with a soundtrack ranging from Bossa Nova to Britney Spears. Tania Carvalho, a Portuguese choreographer, will show Orquestica a work, which investigates bodies as receptors for emotions and thoughts and vice versa.
Greece will be represented by a large company of nine dancers. Choreographer Artemis Igantiou’s piece Cold Water Traces, set to Damien Rice’s music, is about traces we leave behind, traces that disappear for new ones to appear. It is a work about life in constant motion. Second to last performance will be courtesy of Sweden. Skanes Dansteater is one of the leading producers of contemporary dance in Scandinavia. They will show three productions by three different choreographers: Virpi Pahkinen, Marie Brolin, and Per Jonson.
Finally, the festival will close with a Cypriot choreographer. Fotis Nikolaou has been working in Greece as a dancer and choreographer where his range is quite impressive. He has danced with a number of the Greek greats, most importantly the incredible Papaioannou. He choreographed part of the Olympic Games opening ceremony but his strength lies in contemporary dance. A beautiful dancer, Nikolaou will show his piece The Ninth Hour.
Two months of dance are guaranteed to satisfy any dance lover. The festival will be accompanied by workshops by some of the visiting companies. Don’t let one performance influence your opinion of the next, each of the choreographers has something to say and a fascinating way to say it.
WHAT’S ON WHEN
28/04 Italy Compagnia DMA Teatrodanza
06/05 France CCN Roubaix Nord-Pas de Calais
09/05 Switzerland Collectif Utilite Publique
12/05 Finland Nomadi Productions
19/05 Germany Cynthia Gonzales Dance Theater Company
23/05 Croatia Tala Dance Center
25/05 Austria Matsune and Subal
30/05 Czech Republic Ballet Prague Junior
02/06 Poland Dada von Bzdulow Theatre
06/06 Spain Thomas Noone Dance
08/06 Great Britain Colin Poole Dance Company
10/06 Portugal Company Tania Carvalho
13/06 Greece Chorotheatro aRT – Artemis Ignatiou
16/06 Sweden Skanes Dansteater
20/06 Cyprus X-it Dancetheatre
Tickets: £3 per performance or £15 for all performances. Free transportation is available from Nicosia from the Hilton Hotel at 19.00. All performances start at 20:30 at the Rialto Theatre in Limassol. Tel: 77777745
