Ballet Boyz
“Broken Fall,” “Edox,” “Propeller,” ”Yumba vs. Nonino”
T.P.O. (Teatro di Piazza o d'Occasione)
“The Painted Garden,” “The Japanese Garden”
Jacobs Pillow
Becket, MA
July19, 2008
By Rita Felciano
Copyright © by Rita Felciano
The Berkshire summer people who go to the Jacob’s Pillow Dance festival expect both high art and high entertainment. This past weekend they got a little of both by companies who couldn’t be more different from each other. Whether the Ballet Boyz’ attempt to demystify ballet through introductory videos about the blokes who do the hijinks on stage actually fools people into thinking that dancers are just ordinary folk has to remain unanswered. And the fact that T.P.O. invites audiences to join its two dancers into exploring their “gardens” could not hide the sophistication and elegance of this Italian dance theatre company’s approach to expression through movement—both virtual and physical.
Of the Ballet Boyz’ three American premieres, Russell Maliphant’s trio “Broken Fall” (2004), set to a score of middling interest by British composer Barry Adamson, was formally the most demanding. It was built on a neutral presentational style of high- risk interactions--near-drops, upside-down slides and over-head throws. Throughout, its three dancers, Michael Nunn, Oxana Panchenko and William Trevitt maintained deliberately even pacing as if walking around each other took the same energy as throwing yourself across space into a waiting partner’s arms.
Moving with the inevitability of time, “Fall’s” rigorous formality underplayed its athleticism. Watching these coolly self-confident and distant performers became a mesmerizing experience even though much of the audience would disagree with this assessment. Originally created for three men, Panchenko’s sinewy silkiness contrasted beautifully with Nunn and Trevitt’s more mature approach to line and placement. She was spectacularly effective suspended horizontally like a plank or sitting on a shoulder, her port de bras limpidly extended. Michael Hull’s dark lighting design enhanced the distancing intent.
Also performed with a changed cast was Rafael Bonachela’s “Edox”, called “AmOx” in 2007 when it had been set on two female dancers. I could imagine the work’s examination of weight and balance having sounded a more egalitarian tone—showing women as physically strong yet mutually supportive of each other. Here, seen with Panchenko and Tim Morris, the piece developed nuances of a mother/child relationship. At the same time the choreography reversed ballet’s traditional gender roles. Panchenko initially was the enabler who assisted Morris’ turns and reaches. In a hug, he slid down out of her arms; an arabesque physically pulled him up from a crouch. The piece ended with the dancers having achieved a more equal relationship. Here Panchenko again impressed with the strength and visual clarity of a quasi Forsythian approach to ballet.
“Yumbo vs. Nonino”, Australian choreographer Craig Revel Horwood’s 2007 gloss on tango to music by Astor Piazzola and Osvaldo Pugliese, featured Nunn and Trevitt in a relationship duet whose moods changed with the snap of a finger or the kick of a leg. Fast-paced, well timed and accessible, it proved to be an audience favorite.
Dressed in black suits, the two dancers didn’t just interlock legs but wrapped around each other’s necks and backs when Trevitt didn’t lead Nunn on a leash around a circle like trainer and horse trainer. Sedate couple dancing gave way to dizzying turns, silent-comedy face-slapping and, at one time, even a “stabbing” encounter. Even though the performance suffered from several near misses, this was fairly witty take on tango and the culture that gave rise to it. The piece also explored the two dancers’ different personalities; with Nunn’s more rough-hewn physicality contrasting with Trevitt’ suaver and airier elegance.
The most physically astounding feat in British choreographer Liv Lorent’s 2006 “Propeller” had Nunn balance himself on Panchenko’s thighs in teeter totter fashion. With her supporting herself on her hands, their lower bodies seemed fused. Lorent’s approach to partnering revolved around physical connections—neck-to-neck, torso-to-torso but limbs pulling in different directions. He performed a headstand on her belly; she daintily stepped on top of his rib cage or balanced herself on his shin. With Nunn in white pants, Panchenko in a soft asymmetrical skirt, theirs suggested a relationship based on muscles, flesh and skin with just a whiff of something deeper emerging during “spooning” moves in which Vivaldi's richer strains gave way to Boss’ facile affability. “Propeller” was theatrically pleasant, athletically impressive but emotionally not that involving.
The fact that the Italian T.P.O, based in the Renaissance city of Prato, works with interactive media is not particularly impressive. Technology seems to be the lingua franca in dance as much as anywhere else. The fact that these artists are using it in an imaginative, witty and gentle way is more so. In their Pillows’ debut “The Painted Garden” and “The Japanese Garden,” at fifty minutes each, tended to go on too long even though the many audience-participation interludes were kept mercifully short. But each work has a trajectory, a kind of journey through different aspects of a garden, which wased out through the inevitable sameness of the audience members’ movement responses.
The public surrounded a touch-sensitive center square which responded to touch by either creating or swallowing images. Elegant and limpid Carolina Amoretti and Stefania Rossetti set the pieces in motion by rolling, skipping and flipping themselves through its visual clues. They then invited individuals or whole groups to respond to the gardens’ clues. Predictably the majority responded by using their feet only, hopping, walking and trying to chase the floor’s ephemeral images though, it must be said, young and old responded generously, some with more evident enthusiasm than others. Repeatedly the dancers own dancing opened possibilities, to little effect.
“Painted” and “Japanese” derived their strength from Martin on Gunten and Rossano Monti’s designs whose images seemed to develop, often teasing lives of their own. The floor’s liquid transparency suggested depth to allow for images to float on top. Colors ranged from richly saturated reds for seas of poppies, to nuanced grays for stepping-stones and delicate whites of wind-blown marguerites.
Kurdish painter Rebwar Saeed developed “Painted” in terms of basic elements: yellow for the earth, blue for water, green for leaves and red for love. The framework was derived from the geometry of Islamic gardens and Oriental rugs. Actor Irene Cioni who recounted the myth of the birth of Japanese Gardens introduced “Japanese”. A traveler returning from many adventures, apparently, found himself unable to frame his story in words and told his tale with stones, pebbles, plants and water.
Visually luxurious and playful, T.P.O.’s work was delightful though in terms of dance interest, it remained limited. Pedestrians after all are pedestrians.