NDT 1 in top form with season opener 'Stage One', but end disappoints

Nederlands Dans Theater 1 opens the season with Stage One. A triptych without resident choreographers Léon & Lightfoot, but with three mostly young, adventurous dance makers.

Music is an important factor in all three ballets. The evening opens with Thin Skin, choreographer Marco Goecke's ode to punk icon Patti Smith. Culture Press reviewed the play last year (€). The now flemish, then screaming vocals contrast wonderfully but fascinatingly with the perfect, lightning-fast dance work. Jorge Nozal won the Swan for 'most impressive dance performance 2015' with it.

Walerski's Garden of Eden

Keeping a ballet engaging without a story is difficult, but Medhi Walerski manages to Garden excellent at it. Walerski only recently concluded a year-long career as an NDT dancer and although its legacy is visible in his work, he manages to strike a pure formal language of his own. The garden referred to may be the Garden of Eden. In costumes that suggest nudity, the dancers embody pure beauty with alternating solos, duets and group work. Walerski follows the romantic Piano quintet op.14 by Camille Saint-Saëns, but not in a predictable way. Subtle surprises are in the dance itself, in the lighting effects and in the set, a simple canvas that can be raised or lowered from the stage like a wall. With its commedia dell'arte-like atmosphere, Garden dance theatre at its best.

Shaman

Expectations for Salt Womb by Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar are high after their earlier, almost hypnotic works for NDT. Salt Womb disappoints, however. Striving for an 'overwhelming total experience' (quote programme sheet), the choreographers opt for volume category 'hearing damage' for Ori Lichtik's club-beat-like soundtrack. Half the audience experiences the 'total experience' through the filter of earplugs provided free of charge, the other half with earache.

Unfortunately, the dance does not captivate enough to compensate for this irritation factor. We see a group rhythmically performing some kind of ritual (voluntary or trapped?) to the beats for 26 minutes, changing shape very slowly in repetitive movements. Occasionally, an individual steps outside the group. Impressive are Imre van Opstal with her demonic yet sensual moves and Prince Credell, who initially seems to be conducting the group like some kind of shaman. After this promising beginning, unfortunately too little more happens, even on a psychological level.

NDT 1 shows in Stage One in top form and great variety. Too bad the closing track so overshadows the earlier two pieces.