Cedar Lake's triple bill impresses

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
Auckland Arts Festival
Civic Theatre
Until March 15

Often with contemporary dance, it is rare to find something which is new, innovative and exciting but the Cedar Lake Ballet Company has all this and more in its triple bill at the Auckland Arts Festival.

This can be seen in the last work of the programme “Necessity Again” (choreographed by Jo Strømgren's) which interposes quotes from the French philosopher Jacques Derrida ruminating on notions of necessity, desire and death. Along with this there were a string of French songs of the 1960s.

The company danced as though in a 1960s French dance hall or in a French or American musical along with recalling Godard’s great dance scene in the film “Bande a part.”

The work touches on sensuality and sexuality but with a playful comic edge. There is a rich and unabashed liveliness, with some clever acting as well as dance. Some of the pas de deux especially the opening sequence are danced with a Gallic flair and joie de vivre.

One duo featuring a man with a juddering pelvis, pursuing a young woma,n was a clever take on French machismo and received spontaneous applause from the audience. Another, which featured two near naked men and a woman along with a completely naked table, was a beautiful evocation of sensuality as the figures grouped and regrouped like nude sculptures

In “Grace Engine,” choreographer Crystal Pite used an electronic soundscape and the sounds of a steam locomotive to provide the dancers with the impetus to dance to as well as providing a source of imagery for their actions. In one sequence the motionless dancers are slowly activated by the sounds of the locomotive firing up.

Much of their dancing replicated the rapid angular movements of the locomotives traction system, the dancers linked together to create mechanical-like movements that also had the appearance of a giant spinal cord.

Their dancing emphasised the notions of action and reaction, tension and release and, when the tempo increased the dancers became frenetic – like an out of control engine.

The lighting was cleverly used, both in terms of spotlighting the individuals and groups of dancers but also providing the blinding light of the locomotive. There were also some cinematic-like sequences where a strobe-like effect along with dancers racing across the stage created an eerie sense of rapid motion.

The other work on the programme, “Violet Kid” choreographed by Hofesh Shechter, opened with someone talking, “Do I talk too much?” and other comments about language and communication.  These self-reflective conversation continued intermittently being joined by others eventually concluding with a babble of voice. However it wasn’t the talking which was more interesting. Ratherit was the dancing, which touched on the nature of dance and its production.

Early on the figures seem to generate a new form of movement – a combination of Indian and American First Nations – a cryptic stylised, energetic dance which slowly took on other features as though they were attempting to incorporate the movements of reptiles and insects.

This work also provided some inspired lighting with an almost fogbound stage creating a subterranean set along with a heartthrobbing beat.

As in the other dances the performers showed remarkable agility and suppleness along with an exacting control, seeming to continually evolve and adapt.