Pavel Šmok’s Ballet Prague – Prague Chamber Ballet added a composed performance Mirrors to the Soul to its repertoire. The subtitle of this new piece is “Martinů’s Evening” but only two choreographies are inspired by his music.
This evening is colourful. So colourful that it seems to lack a dramaturgical intention. It is opened by Touches of a Dream-book in Jan Kodet’s choreography – an abstract scene of permeation of one man’s and two women’s memories (Michal Vlk, Lenka Bílková and Lucie Holánková). Bohuslav Martinů’s music alternates with specific sounds creating atmosphere of a bad weather, characters move but they are bound with elastic transparent cloth, then they play several situations where their relations get complicated to be covered again with a grey curtain of possible oblivion.
A short duet Lost to You, Lost to Myself by choreographer Lucie Holánková set to music of B. Martinů is not listed in the program. A dancing couple seems to be arguing, choreography uses violent movements and impressive acrobatic lifts (protagonists Tereza Chábová and Libor Kettner cope with them without problems) but it looks unfinished. It probably copies dynamics of music in a great extent and it is more illustrative than interpretative.
The third choreography is Lyrical by Petr Zuska. Three Ruthenian songs shape the basis of the duet that has its premiere at Balet Gala two years ago where the author danced. Due to selected songs, fine kinetic vocabulary and changes of light that underline closeness – or distance – of dancers, a micro-story about feelings and separation is born. Lucie Holánková and Alexandr Volný found a corresponding position in their expression.
After the interval, David Stránský’s dance theatre Behind the Curtain follows. Its theme is life in socialism for forty years as we can hear from contemporary recordings used at the beginning and at the end (Klement Gottwald’s famous words about his return from the Castle and an announcement about abdication of Communist officers). The author has chosen our folk singers - J. Hutka, K. Kryl, V. Merta, V. Třešňák, D. Andrtová Voňková to be his music accompaniment. A grotesque form originated from the effort to crowd as many problems and wrongdoings from the previous era as possible into a forty-minute merry-go-round of scenes. Unfortunately, the choreographer ignores the possibility of one’s own interpretation of famous melodies and scenic elements but he harms himself. He exposes himself to a negative comparison (for him) and unvoiced questions like: where are the boundaries of inspiration by a colleague?
Moreover, a viewer gets a portrayal of this time served without a possibility to use one’s own imagination or interpretation. There have to be metal railings in the prison, a police officer must have a uniform with a pistol case, scenes are almost illustrations of texts... There is also a fragment from a book (František Bártík: The Vojna Camp) with a melodramatic effect (a letter written to a mother by a son who waits for the execution). On the stage, we can see scenes (literally) describing lives of several specific characters. Their list speaks for itself: a double role of a policeman and a lover (Libor Kettner), a prisoner sentenced to death and a painter creating Lenin’s portrait (Alexandr Volný), an secret police member and a an imprisoned priest (a paradoxical double role of Michal Vlk) and three female characters: a wife, a member of the Socialist Youth Movement) and a naive girl in a pink dress (Lucie Vrbová, Lenka Bílková, Denisa Procházková). Police officer’s morning, interrogation, prison, killing the lovers during their attempt to emigrate, effort to make a comic ending. It is difficult for a viewer to think deeper about it especially when s/he cannot decide if choreography is supposed to be serious or fun.
Performances of dancers (the head of the company Lucie Holánková can be recognized according to her cultivated demonstration as well as dancer Alexandr Volný) represent what is positive about the evening. Mirrors to the Soul as a whole is a performance that functions like a randomly composed program of choreographies without a significant connection.
Written from a second night at 19th December 2009.
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species