What I Saw: Bests of 2009

Boléro Variations - Raimund Hoghe.

I was deeply affected by the simplicity and eloquence of the movement in this piece. Though I admit, I struggled with the tempo and pace of it a few times in the first half hour. The show requires patience and a willingness to slow down, observe, and accept. It was by turns sensual, meditative, breathtaking, and funny. The choreography wasn't there to tell a story or illustrate the music so much as to reveal how it affected each dancer through subtle variations in gesture and tempo. Many people walked out during the first forty-five minutes. The woman sitting next to me laughed at odd moments and she, like half the audience, left at intermission which meant I have a fairly unobstructed view from center. It was never apparent if the dancers noted these responses.

Ornella Balestra was fascinating. It's rare to see an older woman's strength and beauty shown in such a sophisticated, intelligent way. Her movements were serene and deliberate. Her fitted black jacket and skirt and velvet high heels emphasized the lines of her body and highlighted her femininity, but without that necessarily being the point, without making her an object of desire. Emmanuel Eggermont's movement, even the most minimal, was full of beauty and grace. During Benny Goodman's riff on Boléro he moved so lightly that it took my breath away.


The piece takes a more directly political viewpoint in the last twenty-five minutes of the dance when the words of an Auschwitz survivor are played. On the night I saw it - September 11 - this section had a stunning impact due to the absence of Nabil Yahia-Aissa. The evening started with Cathy Edwards, PICA's Artistic Director, announcing that Nabil, an Algerian-born dancer who lives in France, had been unable to board the plane from France because the U.S. department of Homeland security was holding his passport for further review, even though he'd already been granted a work visa.

The dance was not altered to compensate for Nabil's absence, so at various moments the stage would become a bit unbalanced or a hole would be left in a line. During the last 20 minutes, the dancers brought out bags of differently colored lentils or beans and poured them on the stage in a mound - one for each dancer, including Nabil. They also brought out his shirt and laid it by his mound. They removed their own shirts and began a grueling variation that called for them to move their bodies on the floor tracing a circle with their arms and hands. Initially the task exposed the differences between the dancers bodies, but over time it revealed the body engaged in struggle and dissolved differences such as appearance and strength and ability.

Interviews with Raimund Hoghe here and here.