'Adieu' performed with style

By Tetet Srie WD

JAKARTA (JP): With a wide screen dotted in brown and gray in the background, accompanied by a woman's voice and music composed by Pascal Dusapin, the dancer made her appearance. When the soft movements of her hands came to an end, four other dancers came on stage. Then, all five dancers stood still under a dim light. This was the premiere of the French ballet Adieu in Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center on Oct. 24.

Seven dancers were involved in Adieu. The dancers were clad in black, red, green, blue and yellow as conceived by choreographer Francois Raffinot who dedicated this work to his friends, particularly Dominique Bagouet, who died of AIDS.

For Raffinot, a choreographer with a great interest in philosophy, the bringing together of dancers is not a question of control or the development of explorative movements only. The depth with which to harmonize each part of the body, each gesture with accuracy and sensitivity is of great importance. If a piece is categorized as mere communication on stage, it needs dancers with a high level of intelligence and responsibility.

Backed up by appropriate lighting, far removed from the colors of opulence and glory often used by contemporary choreographers, Raffinot's piece -- composed in 1994 for the Forum d'Avignon -- seems to lead our eyes, thoughts and feelings past a series of mysteries one by one. Far from telling a story, it creates a tenderness which dominates the piece. It brings together a number of remembered events.

Elements such as these, coming close to abstract shadings, need a journey and an experience of their own. Apart from dancing techniques and individual instincts, the choreographer stores dynamics for interpretation and unpredictable images. He not surprisingly managed to incorporate sullenness, lassitude, sadness, anxiety, happiness, love and all that reflects life into a forcefully contemporary form.

Apart from the five-act Adieu, lasting an hour without intermission, the choreographer -- who involved Hermes, noted Parisian fashion designer, and prominent dancers -- also presented a ballet named Sin arrimo.

Like the first number, this 30-minute ballet was performed by seven dancers dressed simply in shorts and clinging black shirts.

A large painting in red, green and yellow served as a backdrop and occupied a quarter of the stage. The ballet started with two dancers to the accompaniment of Louise Andriessen's music, which has pentatonic inclinations. Neutral lighting enveloped the two dancers, each on a different level. The one below crawled and crept. Other dancers appeared one by one and followed as if toeing a white line.

Barefoot, knees occasionally raised and turned abruptly, then lowered while the hands approach the throat, the dancers showing how they find their balance. At high speed, the performance offered a hectic pace as if to express the meaning, symbols and function of movements choreographed. The dynamic handling of blocking which they carried out with astuteness in the falling, rising and rolling rhythms made the choreography interesting. Without much difficulty, they jumped, carried other dancers in their arms, and laid facedown, making the performance take on a surrealist flavor. The backdrop was raised, making place for an illuminated white screen. A black-clad girl bounced up and down in a white field in which the light grew brighter.