Introdans: Energy (triple bill)
An exciting modern dance troupe returns with a stylistically diverse program.
The Netherlands-based dance troupe Introdans (Roel Voorinthoff, artistic director) exploded onto The Joyce Theater stage in an aptly titled program, Energy, making a very welcome return to this esteemed home for dance.
Although worlds apart stylistically, the first two works, “Kaash” and “Concerto,” were choreographically similar, their form based on repetition of simple themes that gathered strength as each work progressed.
Akram Khan’s “Kaash,” danced to “Spectre,” pungent music by Nitin Scwhney and John Oswald, performed by the Kronos Quartet, combined modern dance with the classical Indian Kathak vocabulary, strong arm and hand movements above expansive leg and body shapes.
The dancers twisted and jabbed, flung and heaved their arms while they stomped and ran about gathering in circles and lineups. In those straight line formations, they did sequential arm gestures looking like giant, many-armed Indian goddesses.
“Kaash,” though it was short and recycled a limited range of movements, was danced with passion and a sense of community that turned it into a sensuous ritual aided by Kimie Nakano’s flowing, ethnic-tinged black costumes and Aideen Malone’s moodily suggestive lighting adapted by Paul Moorhouse.
Lucinda Childs’ cool “Concerto” followed. Childs, a lauded veteran of the 1960’s avant-garde dance and theater scene, was famous for her starkly minimal works and “Concerto” retained that feeling of less is more.
Choreographed to a concerto by Henryk Mikolaj Góreki that hinted at Baroque with its plinkety harpsichord, but was thoroughly modern in spirit, Childs put the dancers through a strict set of movement themes: walks, pirouettes, arabesques and small leg-swinging jumps. Curved arms held overhead were repeated as another highly visible point of reference.
The company looked like busy beavers performing these formal, mechanical movements in patterns that filled the stage: sharp diagonals, circles and straight lines across the front of the stage.
“Concerto” was a direct contrast to “Kaash.” The dancers wore Anne Masset’s simple, pale, two-piece pajamas. Domenique Drillot’s lighting was stark in its changes, meant to keep the audience involved with the action. Again, the Introdans company triumphed in a difficult work.
The troupe brought sensuality, elegance and drama together in the final work, Mauro Bigonzetti’s “Cantata, an earthy extravaganza.
I’ve been a fan of Bigonzetti since seeing his works for the New York City Ballet, “Otramare” and “Vestro in Vestris,” both moving ballets that were more character and situation driven than movement driven.
“Cantata” was as earthy as “Concerto” was cool. Here was a community of vulnerable, passionate and uninhibited Italians. All that was needed to complete this portrait of an Italian town was Anna Magnani running about the stage delivering lines from her classic film, Rome, Open City.
The music consisted of folksy Italian tunes filled with the sounds of an accordion and lusty singing. Helena de Medeiros’ costumes conjured everyday street wear from the Italian neo-Realist film era and Carlo Cerri’s lighting gave the impression of the byways and shadows of a small village.
Men and women fought, flung each other around, sometimes ending in explicit lovemaking. The men palled around and the women gathered together seeming to plot how to get at the men. They confronted each other lustily, hips bouncing together, arms moving in thrashing circles threatened to disjoint shoulders.
At the end, the large cast—the entire Introdans company—gathered in a very tight line, their forearms making an angular design which relaxed only when they blew kisses to the audience to close the work on a sweet note.
Bigonzetti knows how to color dance movements to make drama and comedy and individualize each person on the stage.
The company showed mastery of discrete dance styles in three fascinating works yet always looked like a single-minded artistic ensemble. The dancers were all handsome, strong and warmhearted.
Introdans: Energy (through June 16, 2024)
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, in Manhattan
For tickets, all 212-242-0800 or visit http://www.Joyce.org
Running time: one hour and 45 minutes including one intermission
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