“a really exciting piece of interdisciplinary work that melds film, dance and music in a mesmeric and moving work”
Three layers of gauze split the stage, and as the music begins, so does the film. Sweeping landscapes, and gradually, a single figure. ‘TOM’ is, says its creator, about how we feel the need to project a version of ourselves to society as we grow up, and about the parts of us that we leave behind in childhood. Created by Wilkie Branson, the piece is a fusion of dance and film, a marriage that Branson feels is completely natural, given that dance is about movement, and film is about capturing the moving image.
This is an incredibly technically demanding piece. Projected across the three gauze screens, the film itself is created in layers, the result of which is a 3D effect. Branson has made 85% of the visual in the film out of models which he transfers into this space using photogrammetry, in a process that involved over 200,000 photos. The piece skates between spaces: the claustrophobia of tube carriages and the endlessness of the edge of a cliff. The figures are filmed against green screens, and inputted into this 3D space. A particular highlight is a fluorescent elevator, floating against towering city blocks, a surreal beacon of emotion in the muted grey urbanity.
Benji Bower’s compositions in tandem with Mat Clark’s sound design is truly stunning. The music moves from heavy beats to sweeping strings, instrumental then later vocal. This is a score curated with the utmost skill, and its relationship to and clear understanding of the visual element of the piece is magical to experience.
The dance when it comes, is beautiful and emotive, and it’s a context in which we do not usually see breakdance which makes for a really interesting effect. My only qualm is that I wanted more of it. Moments that felt like they might have been launchpads into longer segments of dance then peter into something else. Branson expressed a desire to add a live dance element to the piece in future iterations of it, and this is something that would really help this and I look forward to seeing it materialise.
The final section feels unnecessary and strays into a wooly sentimentality. The rest of the piece has said enough.
This is a really exciting piece of interdisciplinary work that melds film, dance and music in a mesmeric and moving work.
“whilst the dance does have some wonderful elements to it, this is a show to attend for the sake of the music”
‘Layla and Majnun’ is the heartbreaking ancient story of two young people falling in love, much to their parents’ disapproval, and of the passion and pain that accompanies their attempts to be together. It is a tale that has been compared to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for obvious reasons and it is told tonight through stunning poetry narrated through traditional Azerbaijani music.
Designed by Howard Hodgkin, the stage is lit with flickering candles and the backdrop is broad sweeps of paint. Between sections the lights fall low, and the backdrop is lit up, stamped by the silhouettes of dancers in front. The girls wear red and the boys light blue and the colours weave between each other onstage with a mesmeric effect.
The story is told through a collaboration between The Silk Road Ensemble and Mark Morris Dance Group. The Silk Road Ensemble is an award-winning musical collective founded by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1988, a group of musicians from the lands of the Silk Road brought together to create ‘a musical language founded in difference’. And the musicians are truly spectacular. The voices of Alim Qasimov (Majnun) and Fargana Qasimova (Layla) ache with emotion, singing from somewhere deep inside them. Ever changing, light then fast then falling, the emotional impact of the music is impossibly not to feel.
The dance however is on an overall level, disappointing, given the standard one would normally expect from the likes of Mark Morris. That’s not to say there aren’t some very strong elements however. The roles of Layla and Majnun are passed between dancers and the segment like structure is punctuated by breathtaking moments of ensemble, which at one point are overtaken by a repeated solo dance section lead by the fantastic Lesley Garrison, a riveting and deeply moving moment. The most successful parts come when the lovers have something to fight against, the disapproval of their parents and Layla’s unwanted wedding being the prime examples. Some pairs come across better than others. Domingo Estrada, Jr. and Nicole Sabella are a definite highlight, passionate and surprising, and the dancers both exhibit a charisma that some of their counterparts lack.
Clearly, whilst the dance does have some wonderful elements to it, this is a show to attend for the sake of the music, which is worth the ticket price alone.
