I just got back from seeing Pina Bausch's company perform in NYC. Nefes. The name of the piece. A puddle of water in the middle of the stage, slowly spreading in the first half to form a circle. Like a city square centered with a fountain. Of course, the women were in flowey silk gowns to their ankles, the men in suits much of the time, sometimes barechested in dress slacks. At the beginning in towels, at the Turkish baths. All about pleasure, desire and man/woman relationships. Many solos, articulate limbs, speed, agility, long hair, bursts of flying limbs punctuated by distinctive clear gestures of the hands, structures and gestures reminiscent of Bharata Natyam, a little Kathak. Intricate partnering relationships, almost always within and defining the boundaries of her aesthetic. Playing to the audience with bluntness, using your tricks. Flirtations, connections, and a certain interchangeablility of parts, every woman and every man. The scenes that fail do so in comparison to a majority of scenes that succeed. Sometimes the dancing was articulate to a faul like someone over pronouncing every word to speak to someone half-deaf. Makes the energy to much the same, not enough modulation. But in general rhythm was well attended to. Women crawling like felines, men crawling to shake hands like beasts of business. Eating chocolates. Family photos. A wedding. Ecstatic solo in pouring water. The ocean rolling and rolling. Dizzy spins. Approaching and departing walks, smooth hips, barefoot or highheels.
posted by Liza 13.12.06