Everything, but the Kitchen Sink

Esther Lee Wilkinson and Tim Matiakis:

"We Are not Wawing - We Are Drowning"

Corpus - the in house company at Royal Danish Ballet

May 30, 2013

The new in house company of Royal Danish Ballet goes all in with a blockbuster full evening ballet using more than 40 dancers, flying houses, moving woods and tackling the subject of death. It include funny, touching and virtuoso segments, but it is in dire need of editing and is struggling to understand and use the company talent right.  

 The RDB has a poor track record in ballets made on the company. Many leading choreographers have created works for the company with less than satisfying results. The guesting choreographers are usually charmed  by the company and dazzled by the high production values offered by the costume workshop, so we have often ended up with very well dressed but under choreographed ballets. Is it a double edged sword, because as one dancer pointed out in an interview, the company has little training in being part of the choreographic process. This might be one of the reasons why Nicolaj Hübbe decided on a two season test of an in house company, Corpus creating their own works. He appointed two of the most experienced in house choreographers, Esther Lee Wilkinson, who last season created “The Neglected Spring” for the aspirant class and soloist Tim Matiakis, who has been a regular contributor to various workshops and projects like the Cross Connection Company, an initiative founded by a group of RDB dancers.      

Corpus made a strong debut at “the Hübbery” in December with a piece for the whole company with the theme of the individual and collective reasons for dancing. For their full length program Corpus  have continued the big cast strategy but have added the heaviest subject available: Death.

The Better Half

Seeing the full piece, consisting of nine segments, is seem more a construction put over various ideas, than the master plan for the ballet. Some of the best segments has little relation to the death theme and function well on their own premises.

This include a pas de deux for Tina Højlund and Nicolai Hansen, based on the Platon myth on perfect couples originally being one creature and then split in half always searching for their better half. It works very well not only because it is a subject that can be choreographed inventively but also the two dancer’s commitment and expressiveness.

Other bright spots include a much to short pas de deux for Alban Lendorf and J’aime Crandal. The two principal have often been paired in the big bang pas de deux where they have seem mismatched, but this tailor made fragment creates the unity and perfect balance and although much to short makes a very strong point for choreography made on the dancers.    

An angelic trio for Gudrun Bojesen, Amy Watson and Hilary Gussviler also creates a magic moment and is one of the segments with a clear tie to the agenda. Likewise the opening solo for Kizzy Matiakis as a suicidal woman manage to be good choreography and keeping within the theme.    

The Comedy Show

Well the rest is anything but silence. The segments includes spoof on television programs, including a  makeover programs with Nicolai Hansen and Susanne Grinder as the smooth talking TV hosts with Cedric Lambrette and Josee Howard as the hapless couple  made over. Funny yes, but hard to file under ballet. Gitte Lindstrøm following a solo best descripted as a reversed strip tease, becomes an energetic talk show host interviewing former culture minister Uffe Elbæk, while a quartet of black hooded male dancers manage to grab the focus by funny pilobolus postures before supporting the charming Femke Mølbach Slot in a mouse cap through a number.

In all one can conclude that it still is the core qualities of the company that function bests. The rest of the segments tend to be modern dance standards: The soldiers at war, the sex club acrobatics etc. The later done well but the dancers did not appear comfortable.

The Costume Show

Having seen the segments at open rehearsals, it must also be concluded that some of them are killed by severe overdressing. A group of mourners who appeared strong in rehearsal are reduced to umbrella stands. And in several segments the male ensemble are in black allover including black hoods, which also, when compared to the rehearsals steal their thunder and energy.  

In all it becomes to many ingredients in one pot, and if one includes the interval segment where the doyen of Danish ballet critics, Erik Ashengreen takes on the role as an haute couture designer resenting the worst costumes from the stores, including a costumes worn by Lloyd Riggins many year ago in a desperate reconstruction of Bournonvilles“The Lay of Thryme”, one feels the lack of direction very keenly and also perhaps a bit of doubt on whether the ship would come home.

One other area is also problematic and that is the choice of music. No less than 23 different numbers mainly electronic or pop functions more than a beat box than as a score. Ballet is and should be a union of movement and music. It is not necessary to stick to one composer as Wayne McGregor’s "Chroma" proves, but it must provide more than a tapestry of noise.

In all  the entire program confirms the talents of the choreographers and the dancers. If they could either choreograph to the chosen subject or dare to be abstract, they might likely be able to create a work where the meaning would be in the dancing and not in the trimmings. Concentrate on the main ingredient has always been a good recipe.  

 

 

Photo by Costin Radu Copyright Royal Danish Ballet