Festival Dance
Scottish Ballet
Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
Tom Campbell
four stars
SCOTTISH Ballet combine homoerotic brutality with vibrant synchronisation in their two-part feature that certainly doesn't fail to pack an emotional punch. Angelin Preljoçaj's MC 14/22 (Ceci est mon corps) is a piece through which Preljoçaj shows his unashamed passion for the male body, drawing inspiration from the Last Supper as the piece takes Christ's words of "Take it; this is my body" – often very literally.
With an uneasy fascination, we watch the all-male dancers assume the roles of Christ's 12 Apostles, or each others' torturers, or lovers. They blur the lines of masculinity and fragility through scenes of violence and sensuality, engaging ritually in acts of dominance and power, tenderness and intimacy; they freeze to become what seem Biblical images, with the light shifting to create the contrast of a Renaissance painting.
Nobody in the audience, it seems, is relaxed; such is Preljocaj's slightly twisted artistry. Hugely provocative and ultimately compelling, the piece which is a "glorification of the male body" not only celebrates masculinity, but also confronts it and destroys it.
Equally emotive, in this sense more uplifting, Crystal Pite's Emergence enthralls us through its sheer sense of spectacle. The 38 dancers represent the swarm; using groups of scuttling, jerking dancers to create often a single movement like a swarm of bees.
Dotted with delicate duets or silent blackouts, the piece allows the audience regular reliefs, before arriving once again in a crescendo of noise and movement at another ensemble, where the dancers count aloud to capture truly the unity of the swarm. The final ensemble of the piece is performed with such brilliant synchronisation and intensity, that we are left spellbound. Emergence resonates deeply with our completely human longing for togetherness.
Tom Campbell is a pupil at Royal High School, Edinburgh and this review was submitted as part of the Herald Young Criutics project with the Edinburgh International Festival.
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