Les SlovaKs, currently one of the most sought-after contemporary dance companies in Europe, came back to Prague to take part in the Hybaj ho! festival. The company of five Slovak dancers based in Belgium has been a regular part of the festival ever since its beginning seven years ago.
This time in Prague they presented their latest project called Fragments. The basic principles of Les SlovaKs' projects are collective creation, mutual inspiration, improvisation, music and their friendship. Martin Kilvády, one of the members of the ensemble said in an interview for Taneční aktuality that "each of our productions reflects a different period of both our artistic and private lives, hence the making of each of our works required a specific approach to collective work."
The title of the production has been chosen aptly indeed. There were snatches of different situations and variations, dance parts of individual dancers mingled, merged and separated again. The music was characterized by fragmentation as well, Simon Thierréa's composition for string orchestra intermingled with the Slovak pop from fifties through the eighties (dancers had chosen songs by singer Melanie Olláryová). The movement material, frequently based on improvisation, was inspired most of all by music. The dancers did not tell any particular story, the production was primarily about movement and the joy it brings.
After a somewhat slow introduction, figures dressed in white slowly began to emerge from the silence and darkness and first tones of music could be heard. Each of the dancers wore an original costume in the same colour, but of different style and character (author Mat Voorter). And exactly the same could be said of their dance. Everyone kept their individual, unique style of performance, although their interconnection was obvious. The productions by Les SlovaKs are never short of their peculiar sense of humour and Fragments are no exception to this rule. Even some facial expressions of the dancers were enough to make the audience laugh, from this point of view probably the most impressive of them all was Anton Lachký with his eyes wide open and his jerky, almost monkey-like movements. The tall dancer, who looked a bit awkwardly at some points, made a great contrastive pair with the small and nimble Peter Jaško, who was running back and forth across the stage all the time. Milan Herich, dressed in an overalls inspired by the style of the seventies, made another “pair” with Milan Tomášik, their interaction, however, was less tangible. Martin Kilvády thus became a kind of solitaire, who, being the so called fifth wheel frequently entered the stage, looked around and left confused, as if he could not find his part there.
Dancers employed in the choreography all sorts of dance styles they have experienced, used small parts of them or parodied them. In this case, we got to see a reminiscence of classical dance at the very beginning of the performance: after a slow entrance, all dancers gathered in the middle of the stage and performed ballet training as a preparation. After that they slowly moved over to the forestage and saluted the audience by a slow, almost insecure obeisance. Ballet inspiration faded into a thoroughly contemporary movement, at some points with brief "excursions" to folklore, historical dance, tango or the cheesiest pop.
Anyway, what always stood out in the first place were the personalities of individual dancers, their energy and how they played around with movement material. Their individuality is also evident in the stage design and lighting, artists themselves moved the stands with spotlights and turned them on and off as needed, they followed each other's dance moves with light beams; a distinctive part of the lighting design in this production was a frequently employed contrast between total darkness and full light "fire" at the audience.
Dancers of the Les SlovaKs company showed us around their landscape full of fascinating movement, playfulness, jokes and music and at the end of this trip they all gathered once again at the forestage to thank us by a bow for our attention. This production, together with the preceding pieces Opening Night and Journey Home, is all about a distinctive attitude to movement, about life with dance, life in dance and vice versa. There are seemingly absurd associations and unexpected twists that represent the outcome of an artistic freedom enjoyed in a group of friends, which Les SlovaKs undoubtedly are. For theatregoers who crave the drama or deep emotions this kind of show might not be absorbing enough, but for anyone who enjoys watching a pure dance performance in all its diversity and with a hint of humour, the Fragments are an amazing experience.
Review of the performance on October 5th, 2014 at divadlo Komedie.
Fragments Choreographed and performed by: Les SlovaKs Dance Collective - Martin Kilvády, Peter Jaško, Anton Lachký, Milan Herich, Milan Tomášik.
Music: Simon Thierrée
Costumes: Mat Voorter
Translation by: Tomáš Valníček
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