"Hunt" Tero Saarinen photo: Marita Liulia
For The Joyce Theater’s “Ice Hot: Nordic Dance Festival,” three companies (TeroSaarinenCompany, Danish Dance Theatre and The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance) brought their brand of “Nordic” dance to us. TeroSaarinenCompany began the Festival with Scheme of
Things(2009) a group work with an elaborate set (a dance of light bulbs straight down the center of back wall, and other stark and beautiful lights throughout), and very nice dancing, but not much more. Conversely, Saarinen’s signature solo The Hunt danced to Stravinsky’s classic work “The Rite of Spring”was stunning, from his commanding, full-bodied dancing to the ever-changing technical bravado mixing lights, props and costume. Artistic director, Tim Ruston’s Love Songs for the Danish Dance Theatre was a lovely evening of dances (solos, duets and so on) to jazz standards including “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “My Funny Valentine” to name a few. To be sure, The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance’s Carte Blache choreographed by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar was teasingly hypnotic. This play on “…the corps de ballet, [where] traditionally the dancers…form the pale backdrop behind the prima ballerina,” lived up to its promise. Dressed as if all 12 of them were one and the same, in flesh colored unitards, hair slicked in a matching pale color, the dancers, in a wonderful way, pounded the idea of unison, monotony and symmetry into our heads. But they also managed, here and there to add a comedic aversion to the corps when a tongue would stick way out of a wide open mouth, or when all at once- whoosh--they would shift direction guided by a grunt that sounded like “wok, wok.” They were simply and technically good at making fun.
Things(2009) a group work with an elaborate set (a dance of light bulbs straight down the center of back wall, and other stark and beautiful lights throughout), and very nice dancing, but not much more. Conversely, Saarinen’s signature solo The Hunt danced to Stravinsky’s classic work “The Rite of Spring”was stunning, from his commanding, full-bodied dancing to the ever-changing technical bravado mixing lights, props and costume. Artistic director, Tim Ruston’s Love Songs for the Danish Dance Theatre was a lovely evening of dances (solos, duets and so on) to jazz standards including “Come Rain or Come Shine” and “My Funny Valentine” to name a few. To be sure, The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance’s Carte Blache choreographed by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar was teasingly hypnotic. This play on “…the corps de ballet, [where] traditionally the dancers…form the pale backdrop behind the prima ballerina,” lived up to its promise. Dressed as if all 12 of them were one and the same, in flesh colored unitards, hair slicked in a matching pale color, the dancers, in a wonderful way, pounded the idea of unison, monotony and symmetry into our heads. But they also managed, here and there to add a comedic aversion to the corps when a tongue would stick way out of a wide open mouth, or when all at once- whoosh--they would shift direction guided by a grunt that sounded like “wok, wok.” They were simply and technically good at making fun.
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