Review: Bach and beyond

THREE dance works form the Sydney Dance Company’s “Interplay”.

In “2 in D minor”, artistic director, Rafael Bonachela continues his love affair with Bach and collaborated, one-on-one, with his dancers. The result was an uplifting, chic and crisp performance, at once edgy and elegant.

In an impressive display of skill and stamina, violinist, Veronique Serret performed Bach’s partitas on stage. The classical performance was interspersed with a spliced electronica version of the same composition.

A pallet of black and white was used for costumes, comprised of unisex, flowing suits.

Complicated pas de deux and pas de trois allowed transfers of kinetic energy, with the dancers intertwined and playing off one another.

Sleek and sexy “Raw Models”, created by Italian choreographer Jacopo Godani, combined seven dancers clad in semi-sheer, black costumes, with strobe lighting, and heavy, thumping music by 48nord, to create a dark yet incredibly sleek and seductive interpretation of a return to primal instinct and innate body knowledge.

Downlights outlined the muscle definition of each dancer, posing and performing rippling movements juxtaposed against disjointed and angular isolations.

Overall it created the feeling of looking on in an underground club – the smoothly choreographed and faultlessly performed pas de deux between Chamene Yap and Andrew Crawford a seductive standout.

Gideon Obarzanek’s “L’Chaim!” (Yiddish for “of life”) was an intellectual observation, formed around a disembodied voice following a train of thought, a line of questioning one might ponder whilst watching a dance performance and, if dancers could reply – what would they say?

With origins in folk dance, this colourful piece incorporated the symbolism of gestures, but hinted at a choreographic thread running through all three pieces. Obarzanek himself performed a surprise guest role and while the work may not entirely satiate choreographic expectations from the SDC, as a performance this humourous and joyful exploration was executed with enthusiasm and polish.

 

 

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