Last Land / Il Gioco del Gregge di Capre @ Dancebase

Review by Stephanie Green | 20 Aug 2013

Last Land evokes the vastness and slow rhythms of two landscapes: Antartica and the Bir Tawil desert between Sudan and Egypt,  the last remaining Terra Nullius –  both threatened by  climate change.  Choreographed by Maria Nilsson Waller,  this is a combination of Irish and Swedish dancers and musicians, creating a beautiful, timeless piece. 

Slow and mesmeric abstract movements by the four dancers, the shuffling of newspaper under their feet and atmospheric, eerie music expand to an imaginative set piece when the dancers raise the newspaper pieces like huge triangles which seem to dance by themselves, suggesting glaciers moving.  The dancers whirl, dressed in the scrumpled newspaper building to a dramatic, frenzied climax which unfortunately was followed by a too long coda evoking a post-apocalyptic world.

A different evocation of landscape and goats is evoked in Il Gioco del Gregge di Capre choreographed and danced superbly by Fabrizio Favale. Favale is a genius; a supple, expressive dancer, he was both serious and playful, evoking the character and movements of goats, with his hands and arms, his whole body, not just his feet – though heavy shoes did suggest hoofs!  It is an extraordinary piece, touching, joyful and technically amazing.

 

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