da:ns 2022 :: 'Tree of Codes'

I'm sooooo pleased that Esplanade's da:ns festival is back. This is the final edition though. There'll be no more 'festival' from next year on. They'll cover weekends instead. I suppose logistics and such makes it tough to squeeze everything into two or three weekends. Esplanade is also refresh the brand name and how they want to position this 17-year brand into 'da:ns focus' instead. 

I began the last edition of da:ns festival with a magnificent performance in 'Tree of Codes'. Master choreographer and Director Wayne McGregor's 'Tree of Codes' had to be watched. It premiered in Manchester in 2015, and I've never had the chance to catch it. I finally could, tonight in Singapore. Olafur Eliasson took care of visual concepts, and the music is composed by Jamie xx. 

The title is inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer's enigmatic 'Tree of Codes'. It's a book of words yet not a flat two-dimensional book. You would know that the author cut up Bruno Schulz's 'The Street of Crocodiles' (originally written in Polish in 1934, translated into English by Celina Wieniewska in 1963), and turned it into a book with die-cut pages, and with that story, created a new story of a man's final 24 living hours. TBH, don't bother reading the book to 'get' this dance. You don't need to. Just enjoy the dance for what it is. 

Five minutes before the show began, the ushers were zealous in asking audiences to put away their phones. We all did. We understood why. The performance began in utter darkness. The only lights came from the moving bodies of the dancers on stage. Their limbs were fitted with tiny LED lights. Only those lights moved. In an instant, audiences are transported into another world. The stage sets cleverly used lighting and acrylic screens to lend a tactile and three-dimensional edge to the dance, paying homage to the die-cut pages of the book. Perspectives were bent and shaped as we watched the dancers moved seamlessly in and out of those screens . 

I bought this ticket for the man as a gift for our 13th wedding anniversary. He was most happy to come along. The man was keen to watch this because, Jamie xx, and that this is contemporary dance. The score is composed as an algorithm that turns into music, and utilizes tons of synths. The music is the dance, and it is also the signatures of Jamie xx. The music was arresting and the energy was insane. It was 75 minutes of great music. The man loved it.

The 12 dancers were fluid and technically superb. They were flawless. I was utterly mesmerised. There was also a dancer on loan from the Royal Ballet UK, long-time collaborator Melissa Hamilton. She looked completely at home with the choreography, showing yet again how classical ballet isn't too starkly different from contemporary movements. Although I grinned — a ballet dancer's body and lines are quite different from a contemporary dancer's. But those abs... are just as phenomenal. 

What a show!!! I left the theater breathless with thrill and that 'wow' feeling. 🤩 In the program notes, Wayne McGregor said, 

This incredible prism evokes an otherworldly reality where Jamie’s rich sonic landscapes, ethereal songs and primal beats inhabit our bodies—making us all want to dance.