[2013100] Children / A Few Minutes of Lock
Louise Lecavalier @ Space Theatre
7:15pm, Wed 6 Mar 2013
And so show One Hundred for the season rolled around, and I was thrilled that it happened to be a Festival dance piece; as I am prone to saying, I know nothing about dance, but I love to watch it anyway… and with a curated dance piece, there’s always the assurance that someone thinks it’s pretty good, even if I miss the point.
The opening piece, Nigel Charnock’s Children, was completely lost on me… it seemed to be using the physical performance to create an impenetrable series of metaphors for something – perhaps the titular children? – but I was unable to fathom its message or intent. The movements were likewise confusing: at times Louise Lecavalier and Patrick Lamothe would be scuttling around on hands and knees, whereas other moments clearly have a more classical influence. With a mish-mash of musical backing and searing interludes (accompanied by short strobe bursts), and a simple black staging, it was really difficult to get into this piece at all.
A Few Minutes of Lock (a series of short pieces choreographed by Édouard Lock) was much more approachable, however… maybe due to the bite-sized nature of the performances. Lecavalier was joined by Keir Knight (and, later, Lamothe again) for a much more dynamic, physical display that was immediately engaging and thoroughly entertaining.
And then came the encore – a brief snippet where the dancers engaged each other with hand-slaps before the interactivity twisted their bodies into a human knot. A fleeting moment, maybe, but a wonderful highlight.
As with Guillem, Lecavalier’s movements onstage completely belie her age; though clearly less of a balletic frame than the former, Louise was capable of astonishing speed and power, yet still manages to exude a lightness, a soft touch; were it not for the overly dense opening piece, this performance would have been super-satisfying. Instead, I was left to dwell on the thirty minutes of sheer gold, and hope that the other forty minutes were meaningful to one more knowledgable in dance.
(100) Children/A Few Minutes of Lock: 1st was an impenetrable maze of metaphors. 2nd was sheer delight. Stinger was GOLD. #ff2013 #ADLfest
— Pete Muller (@festivalfreakAU) March 6, 2013