If ballet is about order and the quest for perfection, with simple story lines brought to life through the highest reaches of the human body’s technical skill, contemporary dance is its wild cousin.
Here dancers defy convention, their bodies are instruments for new freedoms and the stories they tell are the opposite of the classic conventions of old. Star-crossed lovers, unrequited love and tragic, fluttering deaths give way to post-gender futures, the brazen love of new equals and a narrative where stereotypes are so dead they couldn’t get arrested.
Two bold new dance works come to Dundee Rep on February 9, when the Scottish Dance Theatre performs Botis Seva’s acclaimed TuTu Mucky, and premieres Colette Sadler’s RITUALIA.
The result, says SDT artistic director Fleur Darkin, will show just how far we’ve come from traditional ballet.
London-based choreographer Botis Seva’s edgy hip-hop (ish) piece TuTu Mucky got them talking at the Edinburgh Festival, it’s bound to do so again in Dundee. Seva challenges and deconstructs the accepted ballet presentation, dancers in dirty-looking tutus perform a muscular, tribal work that has both passion, control and abandon in equal measure.
“TuTuMucky uses ballet as a reference, a jump off point,” says Darkin. “Both pieces offer a fresh take on classical ballet but go in wildly different directions. They look at how dance and ritual intersect and while RITUALIA is a futuristic spectacle TuTuMucky is a primal, hip hop, contemporary dance hybrid.”
German-based, Scots-born Colette Sadler’s RITUALIA is a boundary-defying work questioning gender, convention and more, and while it’s turning Stravinsky’s feminist cultural landmark Les Noces on its head, it’s actually quite simple, says Sadler.
“In truth RITUALIA is far from intellectual,” she assures. “The show focuses on a ritual. In the original ballet Les Noces, this was a wedding reflecting the values of 1920s Russia. RITUALIA is a fresh take on this, where the ritual reflects current trends in pop culture, narcissistic self-obsession and fashion.”
It’s also flown far, far away from the ritual, gendered roles of in the original work, setting it in a post-gender future where anyone can be a mother, a father – and consequently, the choreography means any dancer can dance any role.
The devices Sadler uses are interesting to say the least. There’s the thing with the hair, for example, but we digress…”The piece can be enjoyed in its simplest form as a ritual spectacle,” Sadler adds, “and behind this the audience are invited to explore how this reflects modern society. We mix Stravinksy’s classical compositions with modern music, draw inspiration from the worlds of fashion and clubbing and the result is an arresting visual and aural feast. ”
It’s something new for the company too. Darkin it says offers audiences an opportunity to see a type of work popular in Europe but not often seen in Scotland.
“Colette and her team of international collaborators are creating a bold vision for Scottish Dance Theatre – a riot of music and beautiful costume which our audiences will savour.”
RITUALIA and TuTu Mucky, Friday February 9, Saturday February 10, Dundee Rep Theatre. Box office: dundeerep.co.uk
