Sol León & Paul Lightfoot:
”Shut Eye”
Chystal Pite:
“Solo Echo”
Sol León & Paul Lightfoot
“Singulíere Odyssée”
Netherlands Dance Theatre
The Old Stage
September 9, 2019
Revisiting the Nederland Dance Theatre´s guest performance at Royal Danish Ballet, I could not help noticing the large group of friends, reviewers, balletomanes and RDB dancers who also needed another fix of the NDT medicine.
The program consisting of two León-Lightfoot creations and one by Cristal Pite, all three ballets making a strong impact. The concepts, the choreography, the performers, the music, the design - all came together in the best possible way.
First up was León-Lightfoot´s “Shut Eye”, a group piece for five men and two women in a bare room with projections on the wall. One of the leading dancers in this piece was Sebastian Haynes, who left his soloist career at RDB to work with NDT. Haynes has always been an outstanding performer and dancer, and his performances here was more than first class. In all a very well composed ballet.
In the Snow
The middle ballet “Solo Echo” by Crystal Pite to music by Brahms follows a group of people through a winter. The dancers trails before a lighting wall, symbolizing the falling snow. However, this wall limits the dancing space. Still Crystal Pite gets the most out of her dancers and the available space. It is the most mainstream of the three ballet.
Waiting Room?
Finally, León and Lightfoot present “Singuliére Odyssée” with an especially composed score by Max Richter and an impressive décor by the two choreographers.
The setting is a waiting room at a train station. At first look, it seems like a traditional décor, until you start noticing that it is quite the opposite. The entry door are very small, giving the impression that the dancers are extremely tall. There is also a hidden cat door in the panels where dancers can appear or disappear.
One male dancer performs a role, who seem to be even more desperate as the ballet progresses. This is an up-tempo ballet, using all the space and dancers available. At the end, tons of dead leaves are falling on the dancers who keeps dancing in symmetry, until they leave the stage and leave the audience with an outstanding performance. We are not quite sure what we have seen, nevertheless, we are sure that have seen an innovative and outstanding ballet.
León and Lightfoot are now entering their last season as leaders of NDT. They have been in charge for eight years. Based on this program, and what I have seen of their other works, I will conclude that they have brought ballet to a broader audience. Although, they are mainly modern chorographers, they also have a gift and an eye for dramatic content and the value of design. They certainly lighted up the Copenhagen audience.
Photos:
- "Shut Eye"
- "Solo Echo"
Copyright (c) Nederlands Dance Theatre
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