At Bare choreographer Kenzo Kusuda shows portraits of six musicians of the New European Ensemble as in a choreographic documentary. These come at you in the dark and finally climb over your seat. You can't make your message any clearer.
Thousands of hours they have to study, those musicians. But to them, music is the most beautiful thing there is. Hence, they even want to take out a second mortgage on their musical instrument. It is the musician's struggle that is central to Bare. Japanese choreographer Kusuda, who as an economics student once worked at Tokyo's largest fish auction, delicately portrays that bearable heaviness of existence, with hopeful humour.
Instruments are set up in the spotlight. The six musicians grope them, choosing one as if at a flea market. That instrument will influence their lives, and after their choice, the six young artists screen bows, ski with them, tickle each other, flirt, play football, yes even bowl; all to give an impression of the acrobatic feats that come with a musical career.
Big kids
Of course musicians are great kids. But very beautiful ones. Shaped and sharpened by art and music. Surely this is different from letting your life be determined by, say, stock market prices and currency signs. These young musicians are adventurers, explorers, they tread noble, new paths for us. Erbarme dich, if these people all have to work in a shoe shop. Although I would want to visit then.
The musician is dead, long live the musician
That might also be what Kusuda as a choreographic firebrand. Despite the cuts, let the musician rise again. Show how valuable he is. Using as a metaphor the grand piano that is wheeled back into the world in its bier. Behind it, the ugly duckling of the evening - because no fixed instrument - emerges as a brilliant star pianist with allure. Finally, a tableau vivant of the six testifies to the beauty of being an 'ensemble'.
Recently, you could see opera singers watching professional dancing. Getting musicians to act is also a task, but Bare convinces as theatre. Should the violinist from Maastricht who also makes theatre once go on retreat, he can rediscover the essence of the craft here. From showbiz to the cooling mountaintops of classical music. Every theatre programmer supports a higher cause by booking this performance. Go ahead and try.
[Tweet "Bare is a retreat to the cooling mountaintops of classical music"]Bare is played by six members of the New European Ensemble (NEUE): flute Felicia van den End, clarinet James Meldrum, violin Rada Ovcharova, viola Emlyn Stam, cello Willem Stam and piano Hanna Shybayeva. The captivating, carefully coloured music is by Australian composer Angus Barnacle.