The soul of dance stripped down June 29, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in Ballet Dance & Opera, Hellenic Athens Festival.trackback
Akram Khan and Sylvie Guillem join forces in ‘Sacred Monsters,’ merging classical and modern
Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan, two formidable performers, present a ‘meditation on the journey from classical to modern dance,’ in ‘Sacred Monsters.’ The acclaimed choreographer and the legendary ballerina will be in Athens tonight and tomorrow, performing at the Herod Atticus Theater.
The performance begins with a stark, silent scene. Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan, two “sacred monsters” of modern dance, stare at the audience in silence. They have returned to their childhood years. Guillem plays with a jump rope and Khan learns his first dance steps. They each, in turn, reveal something of themselves in solo dances, contemplation on the technique in which each has been trained, she in classical ballet and he in the Indian kathak and modern dance. They don’t pretend to be anything but completely incompatible. When he twirls around her at an irritating speed, she leads him into a corner and when he tries to manipulate her limbs as if she were a doll, she escapes his grip with a burst of pirouettes. As they dance, they exchange secrets: Guillem confesses her fear of insignificance and Kahn his fear of baldness. Their idioms gradually merge into one. Guillem, legs wrapped around Khan’s torso, hangs from him, becoming a part of him as they perform a ritualistic duet, using only their hands and their torsos.
“Sacred Monsters,” which premiered in London in September 2006, has been one of the most lauded dance performances in Europe this past year, as it brought together the legendary ballerina with the acclaimed modern dance choreographer. Now the performance is coming to Athens, presented by the Athens Festival at the Herod Atticus Theater tonight and tomorrow.
grhomeboy
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