© Regina Will 'Helikopter' reviews Ballet Preljocaj 'Rite of Spring' reviews 'Rite of Spring' reviews recent Preljocaj reviews more Renee Renouf reviews

Now San Francisco Performances, which consistently supports international companies and productions with a contemporary edge, has brought Ballet Preljocaj as the opening dance offering for its 23th season. It will be followed by Mats Ek Ballet and the production of Swan Lake, and in the spring, a return of the Paul Taylor Company.

The Preljocaj ensemble of a dozen dancers gave us two visual and visceral stunners: Helikopter and Le Sacre de Printemps. What struck me forcibly was the tremendous contrast between the starkness of both themes, the incredibly fluidity of the dancers, the movements given them by Preljocaj and the telling simplicity of the stage setting. For Helikopter it was the use of light and light patterns. For Sacre it was six obviously phony chunks of green sod which moved from a single backdrop tosix spots of mating earth to a square encompassing the final moments of The Chosen Maiden.

Those readers who have seen Helikopter know the whirring sound of the Helikopter blades precede the light pattern of the blades themselves on the stage floor, a pattern strangely reminiscent of the German Iron Cross medal. I believe the helicopter was inspired by the example of the dragon fly, but there was little of insect life about the ballet. There

Preljocaj's 'Helicopter' photo courtesy of Ballet Preljocaj

were moments when I didn't know whether the dancers were scurrying from theominous import of the helicopter as battle weapon or whether they were refugees scurrying on board in the last moments before the fall of some unknown building, compound, strategic position. In those passages where the six dancers became intertwined clusters, one could believe in an insect analogy.

The arm movements of the dancers as they came on singly and then in pairs were striking. One particular set impressed me where two dancers looked as if they were assuming a stick-like version of the Cecchetti third position arabesque. No sooner had they struck the position but they executed a circle, as if they were the motors revving up and their arms the blades. The use of the arms at a 45 degree angle and the head tilted also was a prominent position, both being returned to, or repeated by other soloists or pairs of dancers. Circular movements of the arms and torso, long reaches of the legs, broad second positions also were frequent. Seeing these obviously classically trained dancers moving with such ease and grace was deeply satisfying, more in touch with the floor, yet capable of bursts of flight-like energy.

In the moments where there was an engagement of more than two dancers, the lighting became water-like eddies radiating from the dancers as center, sometimes contrasted with blocks or oblongs of light. At beginning and end the helicopter blade light merged into lineal streaks of light across the floor.

Another point of interest to me was the high degree of equity in the treatment of women. They both started and finished Helikopter.

The score for Helikopter was terribly strong,understandably, unremitting. Occasionally one could hear a human voice talking over the noise and it sounded more German than French. It seemed to add weight to my impressions of refugees.

I'll post a separate set of comments on Sacre. But in concluding this set of observations, the contrast the Preljocaj is able to make in movement styles, from Romeo and Juliet, Le Parc and Helikopter is definite, distinctive and masterful.

part 2...

For singular music like Stravinsky's Sacre, it is entirely fitting that every generation of choreographers should make their statement about this ritual sacrifice. Thanks to Millicent Hodson and Robert Joffrey we have some approximation of the original, which I hope is staged periodically to remind us of that unprecented incision of the ancient and modern into ballet as it had been traditionally presented.

I've seen a number of ballets on the theme, including a video of Dietmar Seyffert's for the Leipzig Grand Opera Ballet,produced by the Ballet Nacional de Mexico for the Sevantino Festival in 1987. It struck me as admirable, mid-way between the original and today's world. Seyffert also created an extraordinary solo using the music for Gregor Seyffert,called Clowns Gottes.

Now Angelin Preljocaj has created an atmosphere speaking to virtually anyone who has grown up in this era of sexual permissiveness, the standard mimimalist hip- hugging skirts, and tee shirts easily disposed of. Preljocaj follows the original script, but what a different take he makes of it.

Here the women are explicitly inviting, explicitly active in their self defense and equally explicit in the raging passion spurred by this spring ritual.

The Ballet Preljocaj Rite of Spring
Photograph © Regina Will

In their short skirts the women come on and range across the front of the stage. One by one, the women divest themselves of their underpants. As the music starts, they move sensually, encumbered by these skimpy bits of modesty and then, abruptly, leave them behind.

The men, who have been lounging on these mounds of phony green, suddenly spring into action, each of them securing a pair of the briefs, and the young women are faced with the reality of their sensuality and the next step in ritual coupling. They don't give in very easily, and there is an impressive sequence of struggle. For a battle of the sexes, it looks like no holds barred.

The men move the mounds around into six separate spots, hauling the women to the space, where the resistance continues. The women work themselves up into a private frenzy, in the process removing the men's shirts, stroking themselves with the trophy,waving them like frenzied banners.

The proceedings are so collective, you almost believe that no one will be singled out. After moments of tenderness, the men suddenly cluster. Nagisa Shirai emerges bare breasted, and you know she has been singled out. Preljocaj has given her some incredible moments where she faces the ensemble,men and women, dashing around in a circle, before she is disrobed entirely.

Before this happens, however, there is a moving passage where the women recover themselves from the onslaught of being deflowered in none too gentle fashion. The transition from the feeling of being bruised to the gradual appreciation of sexual pleasure is singularly impressive. It projects an intimacy remembered from the Italian World War II film when Sophia Loren and her screen daughter stumble out of a church where they sought sanctuary but sustained gang rape by Algerian soldiers.

Preljocaj has given Shirai a series of gestures, opening and closing around the mid- riff, an extension of gestures used earlier by all the women, emphasizing the vital centers of the body. Shirai commands the ensemble into their own frenzy as she dances to her death. In the finale,after the music has finished, she stands quietly, looking at the group, before she sinks to the mound and quietly dies.

Seeing Prelcojaj's interpretation was a rare privilege. Even more, seeing his choice of dancers, many with less than perfect proportion, is reassuring that dancers, who are good, do get appreciated, somewhere. It's not the reason the French Government invested him as a Chevalier de Legion d'Honneur, but for me it very much helps.