Visual art in motion

Last Sunday saw leading members of the Balletto di Torino performing a relatively new production, Slippery-Friction-Skipped and Stretch, at the Manoel Theatre. This term is derived from the material used for the costumes, designed by Manuela Dello Preite, which is slippery, stretches, causes friction, and merges with the body to become one with the dancer.

The evening was divided into three sections. In each section, the choreographer Matteo Levaggi demonstrates the final product of his most recent work for the dancers of the Balletto Teatro di Torino, basically an accumulation of ideas and aesthetic concepts developed over a period of 12 months. In his work, the choreographer seeks to demonstrate each dancer's individual talent as he uses essential dance components and their various interrelations adapting them accordingly so as to create unusual and striking forms and patterns of dance.

To music that ranged from sounds that resembled scratched records to electronic music by David Toop, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff and Robin Rimbaud, the audience was treated to visual art in motion. Individuals and groups of dancers formed shapes that were stretched, twisted and driven by what seemed to be an invisible force that pushed them to their limits.

Most modern dance choreographers are concerned with the choreographic effects of weight. But in the case of Levaggi, the sense of weight seems to have vanished from the type of technique demonstrated by the dancers in this choreography, with the result that the dance was almost as light and airy as classical ballet. There was very little floor work included and the dancing in this programme always remained essentially classical in its style.

At one time I was actually left wondering whether it was best classified as ballet or as modern dance. Many of the lines were clean and turned out and ranged from attitude turns to developes, arabesques and poses. Other than the music or sound, which was used more as a background element, what distinguished it from classical dancing was the way the dancers would occasionally ripple their limbs in slow movements or twist themselves into striking poses.

Timing was also a determining element as movements gradually slowed down almost to a stand still, only to resume again with a step or a contraction of the body that would almost certainly be opposing the rules of gravity. The dancers had an incredible way of demonstrating the greatest strength while displaying the finest grace and quality and this must have been no easy feat.

The partner work although never daring was exciting to watch as each touch from one dancer produced a rippling effect of movements from the other. Throughout, men and women performed the same steps and there seemed to be a drive to eliminate distinction between the sexes. This could be seen most evidently in the costumes of the last dance, when men and women wore the same leotards. Certainly the men possessed amazing flexibility and performed steps normally associated with women dancers, with the greatest of ease.

Lighting was in the hands of Enzo Galia, whose objective it was to eliminate formal structures. This in turn was complemented by scenic designer Sara Giammello whose vision of the theatre is that of an indefinable space where structure becomes ethereal, projecting itself elsewhere.

The lighting with the 'specials' from above produced a surreal effect of light and dark as it cast shadows of colour over the moving dancers creating a mysterious effect and placing greater focus on the individual movements of the dancers as they rippled and contorted. With the dancers dressed in black bodices during one of the dances, the arms and legs became a visual focus of attention as the light practically eliminated the torso from the visual line of the audience.

Artistic direction was in the hands of Loredana Furno and brought the short dance season at the Manoel Theatre this year to an end.