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Colombia Dances, Too
By DAWN LILLE
ART TIMES Jan/Feb, 2005
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Nejla
Y. Yatkin in "Echoes of Hope."There
is interesting, good and sometimes amazing dance throughout the world, but mention a
dance festival in Medellin, Colombia, and your listener is more likely
to think of drug lords. Not entirely correct!
Colombia, a very beautiful and ecologically rich nation,
just hosted its eighth international dance festival, in which the participating
companies from ten countries were seen in three cities: Bogota, Medellin
and Barranquilla.
Now directed by Peter Palacio who was one of the original
cofounders, the “Temporado” as it is called in Spanish,
lasted for ten days. During this time there were performances in the
major theater of each city, in smaller venues and in outdoor spaces,
the latter free to the public. Additionally, each of the three cities
offered workshops in the technique of Jose Limon, the late Mexican-American
dancer and choreographer, plus lectures by international scholars and
directors from Spain, Argentina, Venezuela and the United States. The
special aspect of the festival was the consistently large, young audience
that came back again and again.
The people of Colombia, often a blend of Caucasian (usually
Spanish), indigenous Indian and African, are warm, outgoing and welcoming.
Look at the facial expressions on the paintings and sculpture of Fernando
Botero, a native son, and you understand the love the average citizen
has for the twenty-three sculptures by him on the plaza outside the
Museum of Antioquia in Medellin.
Although the Indians and Africans together make up well
over half the population, the country is ruled by a European elite.
The political wars that have been going on for forty years, as
well as the drug trade, are directly related to the divisions in the
society and the extreme poverty. This notwithstanding, the varied topography
and peoples have produced different kinds of dance and movement. Colombian
music, too, often began regionally with the influence of drums, guitar,
flute and the accordion, and has now developed into jazz on one hand
and modern music on the other.
Opening night of the Festival took place on a large,
raised, well-lit outdoor stage at EAFIT, a private university in Medellin,
the rector of which is the former Minister of culture. Two solos, both
choreographed by the performers, constituted the program that was warmly
greeted by the audience, many of whom swarmed around the dancers at
the reception afterwards.
The work of Luis Viana, from Caracas, was called “Arroyo”
(Stream) and danced to Ravel’s “Bolero.” The program
note described his body as “… lit by form and necessity
and finally disintegrating into a restless warmth.” With his shaved
head, and costume of a long red tutu, his strong, expressive body became
increasingly conflicted and agitated as the familiar music built in
intensity.
Nejla Yatkin, the second soloist, with her long torso,
limbs and black hair, was a fascinating study in evolving shapes and
a true mixture of her Turkish background and German and American training.
In one voluminous rise from floor to standing she made superb use of
the long black tutu-like skirt she wore. A few days later she performed
“Echoes of Hope” in the main theater. Inspired by the poetry
of Rainer Maria Rilke, this impressive work to music by Sheila Chundra
and Jurgen Knieper, had a stunning beginning, with Yatkin sitting stage
center, her body wrapped in white and her bare rippling back facing
the audience. Following Rilke’s concept of the child as a stream
that becomes a river, a torrent, a sea, this full evening work showed
the child in pigtails creatively using a jump rope, as an adult at work
and, finally as an old woman. Choreographically Yatkin used the entire
stage as she created her luminous images, framed in dramatic clarity
and passion.
Delfos Danza Contemporanea works in Mazatlan, Mexico,
where they have a school and are active in educating the public, especially
children, about dance. “Breves Instantes” (Brief Moments),
also seen at a recent performance at the Joyce in New York, is a work
in six movements, concerned with emotions that become little poems in
movement, carrying out the company’s interest in poetry as well
as dance. Neither the expressive dancers nor their choreography could
be said to show strong Mexican roots, but rather an exploration into
the nature of contemporary dance and human beings.
Japan was represented by Eiko and Koma, who have lived
in the United States for many years but studied Butoh in their native
country as well as contemporary German dance, combining them in a calming
blend of their own. “Wind,” a sustained duet about the relationship
of a man and woman, was performed to vocal music that sounded like Gregorian
chant, but was not. Their amazing ability to move with such concentrated
stillness, like a Zen garden, was a unique experience for the Colombia
audiences, who were thrilled.
Zvi Gotheiner and Dancers are based in New York, although
Gotheiner was born and raised in Israel. A highly regarded teacher and
choreographer of lyrical and often romantic works, he tends to use ballet
partnering, elements of folk dance and theater, all of which could be
seen in the three works his company presented.
Wen Wei Dance, from Canada, presented “Tao”
(The Way) which is really about the Chinese born and trained Wen Wei
Wang’s trip from China and the adjustments he had to make. It
was performed by six dancers, including the choreographer, whose constant
broad and entwining movements filled the stage, accompanied by an original
score by Giorgio Magnanesi that included sounds of water, gongs and
bells.
A wonderful surprise was the unknown Antje Pfundtner
from Germany, who performed a fifty-five minute solo, “Eigen Sinn”
(Obsession), in the small theater in Medellin. In it she narrated various
stories, many concerning rebellious and vulnerable characteristics in
humans. All the while she moved to a sound collage in a quick, idiosyncratic
manner that was full of unexpected quirks and gestures, with much humor.
In all probability this young artist will be heard from again.
It has long been thought that geography and climate,
combined with local mores, affect the way humans move and, subsequently,
dance. One need only look at the stamping vertical bodies of northern
Europe in comparison with the soft, flowing ones of parts of the Pacific
for examples. African dance, with its polyrhythmic and outwardly propulsive
pelvic movement has produced American jazz dance. In South America and
the Caribbean there is often a blending of African, Spanish and indigenous
dance that somehow results in an energetic but flowing and pulsating
movement that reaches out to the audience, whose bodies begin to participate
unconsciously. This happened with the Brazilian Verve Compania De Danza,
the Venezuelan Agente Libre and the Colombian Danza Concierto.
“(C2H4)n – Plastico,” presented by
Verve Compania De Danza, illustrated the fact that design is paramount
in Brazil today. It is not surprising that the founder and choreographer
of the group, Fernando Nunes, is a designer of plastic forms and a photographer.
The program note talked about the presence of plastic everywhere and
observed the current tendency to combine electronics with artistic concepts.
Indeed, the six dancers, dressed in black motorcycle-like costumes,
started off in front of a huge screen, on which were projected photographs,
home movies, political films (Hitler and others), a man and a woman
in old fashioned aesthetic poses, videos of the dancers on stage and
of the audience. The live dancers often seemed to move in reaction to
the projections. They used semi-circular acrylic screens that they stood
behind and often moved. There was a sense of excitement and rhythm in
the fast changing images and movements, in which the dancers seemed
to have a strong inner beat complementing the music of Chris Vine.
Agente Libre, directed by Felix Oropeza, who choreographed
and danced in both pieces, presented “Lubumba,” which dealt
with empty spaces and unknown destinations and “La huida”
(The Escape). The latter, based on the William Blake poem that begins
“To see the world in a grain of sand…” had two dancers,
a man and a woman, with projected scenery and dramatic use of the dancers
shadows. “Lumumba,” accompanied by what sounded like traditional
African drumming, revealed four dancers, one by one, each in a square
of light. A film of a traditional dance and then a text was projected
behind the performers, whose forcefulness and smoothly undulating movements
served to effectively combine the old and the new.
There were a total of ten Columbian groups, including one that performed folk dances and two hip hop companies. Los Peligros (Risktakers) displayed technique, choreographic form and humor, beginning their piece with a rap song that made fun of the Festival and stated that they were the “real” thing.
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Danza
Concierto of Colombia in "... y entonces que...?"
choreographed by Peter Palacio“…y entonces que…?” (And then
what?), choreographed and lit by Palacio, was performed by five powerful
dancers, four men and a woman, to an original score by Luis Fernando
Franco. It is a reflection on the relationship of humans to the industrial
process and seems to conclude that plastic will last forever. A tightly
constructed and beautifully danced piece of theater, it started behind
a scrim of milky plastic that became a moving wall from which emerged
a figure (actually one man on the shoulders of another) covered by a
long white costume reminiscent of Barranquilla’s carnival dresses.
This “personage” performed long undulating movements of
the chest and arms, almost ghostly in feeling. At one point, three huge
cylindrical fishing nets made of plastic tubing were lowered from the
ceiling and a dancer became entangled in each - moving, swooping, climbing
and swinging. At the end hundreds of plastic bottles descended from
above. The music, played live by a quartet that included the composer,
was a modern, highly sophisticated blend of Colombian sounds and rhythms
emphasizing the flute.
Danza Concierto defines its mission as one aimed at
building a cultural heritage with Latin America and the rest of the
world, as well as investigating all the elements that constitute Colombian
identity. The Festival was a wonderful example of that dream.