Mats Ek double bill

[Jasper]

A short note on last nights Mats Ek programme - still not my favourite, but interesting as some new faces I had not seen dance Mats Ek before.

But mostly interesting of course was Maria's debut - if I am correct, then this was the first time she tackled his choreography - according to a press release of the company, it was Mats Ek's wish to have her cast in the last pdd.

And she seemed to enjoy it! Threw herself into the style as into everything she does, without any classical manierism - well, there is one particular port de bras in a lift which looked a bit like Swan Lake, but this is a port de bras that tempts every dancer, and I believe one would have to be totally ignorant of ballet to do it in a non-balletic way...

She was partnered by Juan Eymar (former Zurich Ballet, if I am right) - wish he had shown a bit more stage presence, a bit less respect - or maybe just that he had had more rehearsal time? (Listed until yesterday was Guan Deng as her partner...) But they looked good together in this beautiful pdd.

Not too many fans seemed to be in the audience (which surprised me) - well, at least there was no big shouting for her, but some nice flowers at the end.

Alen Bottaini danced the "stove" pdd with Valentina Divina - a nicely different approach to the one of Roman Lazik, the latter being more lyrical, while Alen put a lot of energy and emotion into it.

A lot of subscribers (?) in the audience, interval talks generally spoke of "great dancing" but apart from that obviously seemed not to enjoy it very much, especially found the music too loud (and boy, it's even louder after the interval!). So some seats remained empty, applause was not that frantic - but still friendly for a performance that must have been VERY modern for Munich subscribers...

[Estelle]

Thanks for your review, Jasper ! Could you tell us which works by Mats Ek they performed ?

[Jasper]

Silly me to forget this...!!

It was "A SORT OF" and "APARTMENT", the latter created for Paris Opera Ballet, if I am not wrong??

[Estelle]

Yes, "Apartment" was premiered by the POB, a few years ago. I've never seen "A sort of", what sort of pieces is it (which music, how many dancers, etc.) ?

You mentioned people complained about the music. For "Apartment", was it recorded, or played on stage ? At the Paris Opera, it was played on stage by the group "Fleshquartet", I had found some parts a bit noisy indeed, but some other parts were OK.

[Jasper]

"Apartment" was only played live for the first few performances. This one was with taped music which surely adds to the noisy impression. Remark: The band on the back of the stage is replaced by an animal (not alive, of course) at which the dancers shout!

"A sort of" is to music by Henryk Mikolaj Górecki. It's two pdd plus eleven dancers; starts with a guy lying on the floor, awakening, scratching, stretching - realizing that his partner (girlfriend? wife?) sits in the first row of the audience. They prepare for a journey, and the first "part" ends with the girl being put into a suitcase, the guy getting an airline ticket, turning off the light and leaving for the trip. Then there are ensemble scenes, starting with colourful balloons looking over a wall which are then "pierced" (?); there is a second pdd which can be very romantic (depending a lot of the cast) where a boy meets a girl - it's all very colourful and what I consider to be typically Mats Ek, one second you laugh about something, the next you almost feel ashamed of doing so. There are some "shocking" moments, though not as "bad" as in his "Sleeping Beauty".

Orchestra is on stage, and for the curtain calls, dancers take musicians front stage.

Sorry, bit difficult to describe as there is no real story behind it, but maybe at least a little impression?

[Estelle]

Thanks for the information- I agree that such plotless works are not easy to describe !