Tuesday, October 16, 2018

da:ns 2018 :: Nederlands Dans Theater 1



Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NDT 1) presented four pieces of work at Esplanade's da:ns festival. I couldn't miss the dance company's performances. I love their contemporary pieces. I loved Crystal Pite's 'The Statement'. The music was more of a spoken word thing, with its script (originally a one-act play) written by Jonathan Young. The dancers wore suits and danced out the power play around a conference table. It was very dramatic, loads of power struggle, unmistakably familiar, and indeed very Machiavellian.

Of course there was a piece set to music composed by Philip Glass- NDT artistic directors Sol León and Paul Lightfoot's 'Shoot The Moon'. The dancing was arresting, but I'm not too keen on the story of pain and fractured emotions. The choreographers also showcased 'Stop-Motion', a portrayal of loss and grief and expansive motions. The closing and final piece of the night is set to music by Max Richter- which I thought was very unimpressively typical NDT style, and rather clichéd.

There was also Jeff Buckley's music set to Marco Goecke's 'Woke Up Blind'. Not interested in the story either, since it's of young reckless love and lovers. But I liked those two songs- 'You and I' and his cover of 'The Way Young Lovers Do'. Beautiful dancing and choreography, but two pieces totally took my breath away. Bravo!!! What a magnificent night of dance!!!

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