Bangkok’s 10th International Festival of Dance and Music brings Buenos Aires to your doorstep
Written by Writer on Monday, October 27th, 2008
Review
An invigorating treat
Bangkok’s 10th International Festival of Dance and Music brings Buenos Aires to your doorstep
PARACHAT JIRASAKWITTAYA
This year, the curtain of the festival came down with a ballet and a tango by the Inaki Urlezaga Group. To say that they brought a spectacular end to the festival would be an exaggeration. On the other hand, it is indeed a pity if you missed the performances.
Well-known melodies of Georges Bizet’s Carmen started the opening sequence in the darkness, hinting at what we were about to witness in the first part of the evening. Injecting contemporary details into the classical ballet form is one of the signatures of Inaki’s dance style - classical practices according to the modern structure and rhythm - and gives contrast to the use of flowing movements and poses.
As the sequence took place in a bullring, the bright red light and the flutter of black costumes were at once exciting and mysterious. The dancer in the title role revealed Carmen’s charm through her sashay - smooth, yet strong.
The fateful love story of Carmen, Don Jose’ and the bullfighter is a tragedy that has been told and retold for over a century, but Inaki’s Argentine touch made his interpretation even more sensual and palpable. The chemistry between the bullfighter and Carmen was established via an instance of soul-searing eye contact that was followed by a high side kick and split-second leap by Carmen onto a shoulder of the bullfighter while he was holding her waist, and then the two bodies were swirling around together as one.
In the next scene, as Carmen tries to run away from Don Jose’, who’s begging for her love; the dancers interestingly communicated distance by means of close body contact.
It would not be called Argentina if there were no tango. After the intermission, the stage was transformed into a heavenly mood for El di’a que un a’ngel piso Beunos Aires (The Day an Angel Came to Buenos Aires). Dancers in winged costumes entered through a white smoke of clouds. The story moved between heaven and Earth, depicting the love story of a male angel and a woman of a nightclub. The dance began with contemporary ballet performed to the pace of the tango rhythm, which was soon succeeded by other forms of music - from jazz, to folk, then to classical, and the choreography fitted each of these genres smoothly. The lighting for this dance was designed in such a way that made it look as if it were having snatches of private conversations with the music.
For me, the lighting operation was most riveting when the follow lights illuminated the stage, creating a sharp contrast between darkness and brightness. It reminded me of the paintings by the Italian artist who originated chiaroscuro, Caravaggio, which are most often associated with intensity and impetuosity.
After a long wait, the last moments of this year’s festival were manifested in five minutes of passionate movement. The unimaginable love between Earth and heaven was finally fulfilled, and it made Earth heaven. The angel and the woman united physically and spiritually through tango. The intimate physical contact between the two tango dancers embraced the audience chest to chest and made me hold my breath. Over and above the speed, the timing, the characters and the moods of the earlier frenzy, this new magic monopolised my attention until it was interrupted by the thunderous applause. As I was exiting the Thailand Cultural Centre, heavy rain was washing away Bangkok’s usual haze and bringing with it the smell of the “good air” that gives Argentina’s capital city its name. I couldn’t help thinking that I was leaving a milonga somewhere in Buenos Aires. Well, the name may be a myth, but I certainly walked out energised.
Bangkok Post
Monday October 27, 2008
