Maliphant takes Rodin as rich inspiration for dance, but makes disappointing opening for latest Springdance Festival

The festival opens disappointingly with 'The Rodin Project'. The sculptor Rodin may be a challenging choice, but unfortunately choreographer Russell Maliphant is limited to imitating atmosphere and external pictures. Rodin worked from a distinct idea about matter. He was looking for how forms and movements detach themselves from matter. With his human figures and their gestures, he showed how people live as both physical and animate beings. The gestures suggest a movement greater than the body itself.

Rodin is a deep inspiration for making gestures himself. However, Maliphant has not sought that depth. He stares blindly at the outside. Sure: the expressive stone figures are beautiful and compelling. But if you limit yourself to imitating their poses and heaviness, something boundlessly pathetic remains.

Swoon at muscle masses, for example. Indeed, those masses can also be seen in the marble sculpted by Rodin. As do the raised arms and languorously curved postures of the dancers. They wriggle in underwater pace in the setting. They float softly and sweetly or with a rapture from which the falseness drips. Everything is equally slow and unrelatable. This must get boring in the long run.

The only gear is acrobatic moves with a touch of capoeira by the two men. This is crushingly beautiful to watch. The stunts are breathtakingly executed. But the connection with the rest of the choreography is unclear.

There are numerous more or less literal references to Rodin's sculptures. The highlighted hands recall Rodin's studies of this body part. The men clamber up a vertical wall while dancing. This is reminiscent of Rodin's Hell's Gate. But what does Maliphant think of these sculptures? What do they stir in him, apart from admiring the exterior?

Earlier in the evening, choreographer and performer Ivo Dimchev performed at Theatre Kikker 'I-on'. In it, he worked with sculptures by Franz West. From start to finish, this was original, creative and personal. Dimchev does something with those sculptures. He makes them his story. This creativity is sorely lacking in 'The Rodin Project'.

Rodin is a gold mine, but Maliphant did not dig up the gold.

'The Rodin Project' by Russell Maliphant Company. Seen 19 April, Stadsschouwburg Utrecht. Still to be seen there: 20 April, 20.30pm