Creating memories afresh

The skilled dancers of ‘Amjad’ perform technically demanding moves without letting up on grace and vigour.

A few years ago, the Singapore Arts Festival drew much attention from ballet lovers in the region and attracted full-house attendance when the full company of the Royal Ballet (UK) performed "Swan Lake" at the Esplanade Theatre.

But, last month at the same venue, the festival's final, ticketed performance, the Asian premiere of "Amjad", saw a different turnout, despite having received a similar critical response. "Amjad" is Montreal-based contemporary dance company La La La Human Steps' modern interpretation of the classical ballets "Swan Lake" and "Sleeping Beauty".

"I've always been interested in memory and 'Amjad' ['greater glory' in Arabic] is about memory," Edouard Lock, an internationally renowned choreographer and the company's artistic director, told The Nation.

"I think these two classical works ['Swan Lake' and 'Sleeping Beauty'] have integrated themselves into the society in such a fundamental way that they [have] become part of the cultural memory. People sometimes know the images, music or themes even without having seen the ballets.

"The creative identity of a person is a rapid scanning of the past, [whether] 10 seconds or 10 years ago, which creates the holistic perception we have of who we are. Culture too is like that - society scans its past quickly. These two classical ballets are examples of dance generating memory, which is rare, as dance is not a popular art form."

"Amjad" reinvigorated the choreographic creations that recalled the two timeless works - especially awe-inspiring was a scene with an all-male pas des deux. Another striking thing about the dance was the speed with which the technically demanding moves were performed by the skilled dancers, who managed to balance grace and vigour through it all.

Lock said, "I like the idea that people, the audience, don't understand the body very well. As children, they tend to observe, but as adults, they tend to admit. They can't do both at once.

"The body is judged in terms of age, height, width, but it's difficult to judge a moving body, which often becomes a kind of abstract construction. Speed, for me, is like interference that stops you from fully understanding what you're observing.

"The other thing is people tend to value the thinking process a lot. They think they are important because they're able to think, and not because they're able to move and they're shaped the way they are. That's the degree of grace that people have had since hundreds of years. However, now people tend to think, 'Well, I'm not that interesting, but [at least] I can think'. This creates a bit of craziness. People have rocking minds, but have no appreciation for anything else."

The dancers' ferociously rapid yet meticulously controlled movements were in tune with the Tchaikovsky-inspired compositions by Gavin Bryars and David Lang (this year's Pulitzer Prize winner). It was performed by a quartet that was dimly lit upstage.

In addition to John Munro's swift lighting changes that sometimes mystified rather than revealed the movements, Lock's film of thematically relevant images were occasionally projected on circular screens above the stage. As a result, most moments became quick yet powerful flashes that viscerally provoked each audience member's memories and emotions, creating a different experience for each person.

"I think most complex structures tend to have multiple meanings and significance for different observers. So, [unlike a number of performing-arts pieces] the idea of one fixed message overriding everything else is unimportant to me.

"If you look back at classical ballet and the idea of 32 fouette pirouettes, you will [find that you] fail when you count it. Why is that? Failure is part of life. If you're creating an environment where everything is guaranteed, you might be looking at a show, it's not a work [of art], in my opinion."

When it comes to Western ballet, most audiences in this region still prefer classical finesse to modern experimentation. However, it is important for cultural-events promoters and audiences - like many dancers and choreographers do today - to take risks and venture into new territories sometimes.

'Amjad' will travel to Europe and the United States. For more details, visit www.LaLaLaHumanSteps.com.

This month at Thailand Cultural Centre, Bangkok City Ballet presents 'Romeo and Juliet'. Next month at Patravadi Theatre, Jitti Chompee and Sarawanee Tanatanit will stage a dance-theatre production, 'In Tune'. And that is two sides of the dance coin for us.