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[DANCE REVIEW] Choreftes at Jacob's Pillow
8.17.06
Jacob's Pillow Dance
CHOREFTES
Doris Duke Studio Theatre
August 17-20, 2006
PROGRAM:
Behind Her Eyes
review by SETH ROGOVOY, critic-at-large, BERKSHIRE LIVING
(Becket, Mass., August 17, 2006) -- Like AszURe and Artists before it, the Choreftes dance group, from Greece, presented state-of-the-art dance at the Doris Duke Studio Theatre that, while it stands on a foundation of traditional dance vocabulary, engages it in new and unique ways.
In fact, Choreftes may even top AszURe in the extent of its innovation, on the basis of its hourlong, full-length program, Behind Her Eyes, which utilizes various non-traditional tools, including voice, song, and hand-held lighting, as part of its toolbox. In the service of the dance, a series of vignettes exploring a variety of romantic and power relationships, these tools blended seamlessly with the articulate, muscular choreography by Aliki Kazouri.
Kazouri assembled a marvelous corps of dancers -- five women and four men -- who were all unique in shape and size, but all stunning to look at, which served this particular dance well, as much of it involved vignettes of romantic (or not-so-romantic) pairings.
At the beginning, the viewer is immediately struck by the power of light to shape gesture. With conventional and non-conventional lighting -- overhead spotlights but also handheld desk lamps -- the choreography isolated gestures and body parts. Blackouts also served to isolate vignettes, but soon became gestures unto themselves, providing contrast and also raising the question, when the lights go out, does the movement continue?
Danced to an original, electronic trance-rock score by Stathis Ioannou (think Brian Eno meets Sonic Youth), Behind Her Eyes was an exploration of eros in various manifestations -- in a lengthy lip-lock; in a formal, ballroom-style couples dance; in woman on woman couplings; in people literally throwing themselves at each other (and sometimes, but not always, being caught); in a lap dance for a rowdy male foursome (nearly turning into a gangbang); in violent sex; and in playfulness.
Much of the language used was seemingly ordinary == kissing , touching, pointing, walking, bumping. But it was deceptively simple. In fact, unmoored from a formal vocabulary, it required much more control and precision in order to communicate, which the strong, sexy dancers did clearly, quickly, and profoundly. And in fact, the dancers quickly established a language of their own, with gestures, jumps, and even facial tics becoming a language of their own.
Vignettes were often played out simultaneously, providing contrast -- the tender caresses of two women exploring each other for the first time, for example, off to the side while a woman serviced a horde of male gangbangers.
Kazouri's dancers were also actors -- real character actors -- and it was hard to play favorites, but if pushed to, the diminutive yet stunning Konstantina Efthymiadou -- who went en pointe for part of the dance, the only one to do so, in a light but graceful bit -- stood out from the crowd, in spite of her relative lack of stature.
The costumes by Yannis Kritikopoulos accentuated the dancers qualities -- their muscularity, their sexuality, their expressiveness -- and added splashes of color -- hot reds and watery blues -- to the mostly black and white scenario where appropriate.
For a single, hourlong dance, Behind Her Eyes moved along quickly -- unlike many of her peers, Kazouri doesn't believe in hokking a tshaynik on the dance floor -- yet felt complete. This program ranked with the best of the summer -- right up there with AszURe and Artists and Emanuel Gat.
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review by SETH ROGOVOY, critic-at-large, BERKSHIRE LIVING
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