Visual pleasure

According to the programme note, the message in Thierry Smits’s To the Ones I Love ‘does not direct itself to the mind but to the senses’.

According to the programme note, the message in Thierry Smits’s To the Ones I Love ‘does not direct itself to the mind but to the senses’. Well, his work is certainly a pleasant sensory experience. Neat patterns of colour, possibly recalling the chakras or energy centres that, in Eastern philosophy, govern our senses and feelings, mark the sections of this one-hour dance. The undeniable prowess of the nine handsome black male dancers with their superbly co-ordinated movements, derived from a mix of idioms, adds to the visual pleasure. The ear is teased by Maxime Bodson’s soundscape, which includes considerable chunks of Bach.

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Although these ingredients are far from new, thanks to Smits’s manipulation the old formulae weave their theatrical magic in a refreshingly seamless and engaging way. The action exploits and highlights dance’s innermost playfulness, something that is soon transmitted to the audience. Directness and simplicity are key words here, although the whole concept relies on well-engineered theatre-making. I thought this was one of the most engaging performances of the season.

Powerful spectacle and exploitation of the physical are also the main components of FAR, Wayne McGregor’s latest creation for his company Random Dance. FAR challenges the mind as well as the senses, as indicated by the title — an acronym for Roy Porter’s scholarly study Flesh in the Age of Reason. The opening is stunning, for the fluid choreography contrasts vividly with what we have grown to expect from McGregor. It is a brief episode, cleverly set to a recording of Cecilia Bartoli singing Vivaldi, but it is an intensely beautiful one, which provides a perfect introduction to the Enlightenment-based theme of the whole work.