What impressed the dancers from the first days of the XXVII International Festival of Modern Choreography (IFMC) in Vitebsk? Part 1
The XXVII International Festival of Modern Choreography brought together representatives of leading dance schools from more than 20 countries in the city on the Dvina River.
The graphic symbol of the festival – the meander – very accurately reflects the main line of IFMC: eternal movement, flow, cycle. That is why the interest in what is happening on the Vitebsk stage has not subsided for 27 years, and every year the city on the Dvina River turns into the capital of modern dance for a few days.
– Vitebsk has always been at the forefront of contemporary art. This tradition, laid down by artists in the 1920s, continues today in choreography. IFMC has found its identity, becoming a platform for innovation in modern dance, – said the Minister of Culture of Belarus, Boris Svetlov, in his welcoming speech at the opening of the festival.
The exhibition "Coloristic Spaces" by Anatoly Zhuravlev, one of the most prominent representatives of abstract painting in Belarus, which opened in the foyer of the Vitebsk Concert Hall, set the mood for appreciating conceptual choreography. His paintings fit harmoniously into the concept of IFMC, which represents avant-garde trends in art.
The overarching theme of the current event was defined by the permanent organizer of the festival, Deputy General Director of the Center for Culture "Vitebsk" Marina Romanovskaya as "The Path to Oneself".
– All the works are united by artistic humanism. People from different countries speak the same language of dance and call for mutual understanding, friendship, and love. It so happened that this year many groups from Ukraine and Russia came, no one shows any unfriendliness, everyone is united in one aspiration – to find their way in the world of creativity, – noted Marina Romanovskaya.
Over the past three days, Vitebsk residents and city guests had the opportunity to see performances by world-renowned choreography ensembles: the Chelyabinsk Contemporary Dance Theatre, Kyiv Modern Ballet, the Andersson Dance company from Sweden, and Fine Five Dance Theatre from Estonia. Soloists from the Perm State Theatre "Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov" participated in the opening concert (on November 22, this ensemble, highly acclaimed by Vitebsk audiences, will present the ballet "Through the Eyes of a Clown," which has been nominated for three Golden Masks – Russia's national theatre award – this year), as well as the virtuoso dancer Alvaro Esteban Lopez. The Spaniard amazed the audience with his flawless technique: body movements formed a flowing plastic pattern with refined graphic lines. Regular attendees of IFMC, and there are many of them, will well remember this performer who imitated insect movements in the performance "Entomo," shown on the Vitebsk stage three years ago.
A different approach to contemporary choreography was demonstrated by the company from Great Britain, "Gandini Juggling." On the IFMC stage, the artists presented the performance "Shattered," dedicated to the famous German dancer and choreographer Pina Bausch, who is called the queen of expressive dance. The creator of her own theatre, she asserted that dance can exist in any form. The most important aspect is the precision of plastic expression of thought and emotion.
The company “Gandini Juggling” has an international cast, most of whom are jugglers. They studied this art in schools in Spain, France, and Great Britain. As for choreography, the artists themselves admit they are not professionals, but they mastered the contemporary dance technique with great interest and effort during the work on the production. They were also inspired by the words of Pina Bausch, who said: “What interests me least is how people move. What interests me is why they move”.
In the performance
“Shattered” , the choreographic style of Pina Bausch is evident, but the emphasis is on what the artists do best – juggling.– We chose apples, which symbolize knowledge (Newton's apple) and love (the fruit of paradise). Moreover, they can be found in any country. We have had 400 performances worldwide, and we have become apple experts, so we can confidently say that Belarusian apples are very tasty, – said one of the artists after the performance.
The company from Great Britain demonstrated its vision of modern dance and showed English humor, which masks serious conflicts and passions.
Complex human relationships, the balance between dream and reality, and overcoming various phobias formed the basis of the performances presented at the evening of one-act ballets at the Yakub Kolas National Theatre. The audience saw productions by collectives from Sweden, Estonia, and Russia, as well as the work of Italian choreographer and dancer Emmanuele Soavi, who performed to the music of Claude Debussy.
«The Afternoon of a Faun». This one-act ballet was staged and performed over a hundred years ago in Paris as part of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes by choreographer and dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. At the time, it provoked a mixed reaction: one part of the public and critics accused Nijinsky of obscenity, while another admired his innovative approach. Emmanuele Soavi presented his modern interpretation of this work, which went down in ballet history and marked the beginning of boundless experiments in the 20th century.Two performances became a real gift for modern dance lovers.
"Kyiv Modern Ballet" staged by Radu Poklitaru: "Underground" and "Women in D Minor". The choreographer has his own signature style, distinguished by its special expressiveness and spectacle, his own philosophy of dance. Radu Poklitaru took the words of Jean-Paul Sartre as a kind of epigraph for "Underground": "Hell is other people". These are precisely the feelings experienced by his characters, driven underground by war and forced to be together in a confined space. The ballet "Women in D Minor" was inspired by Lorca's famous play "The House of Bernarda Alba" and Bach's famous "Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in D Minor". There are no direct plot coincidences here, but there is a mood inspired by literature and music. Watching the works of "Kyiv Modern Ballet" is a great pleasure; they are captivating, uplifting, and touch the soul.Tatyana Pasternak, "Vitebskie Vesti"