En
Fr“ Tender Anger ” by Christian and François Ben Aïm
This superb creation for ten virtuoso performers opened the Suresnes Cités Danse festival, with the Ben Aïm brothers as associate artists of the Théâtre de Suresnes – Jean Vilar.
After a rather amusing prologue, in which an iron-gloved man firmly holds his broom while seeming surprised to be there (a metaphor, perhaps, for the corps de ballet?), a magnificent Gaelic chant (?) begins as the ten male and female dancers line up at the back of the stage. The individual dancers then launch into supple gestures, winding and unwinding in twists and turns, scattering in false disorganization and suspended moments. The costumes, by Mossi Traoré, and the gestures, which make skirts fly in Bruehgel-like rounds or folk-inspired chains, have something medieval about them, immersing us in a sense of the collective rooted in life itself.
The detuned unisons that allow the eye to suddenly zoom in on an individual or a figure give the whole an almost cinematographic aspect, with an extremely successful depth-of-field effect. The choreography is extraordinarily well crafted in the mass, with its deployments and spirals, its fourth-finished falls, its endless twists, its masterful curves, and its inverted voltes. The rhythm is captivating, admirably supported by Patrick De Oliveira’s musical composition, full of pulsations and diverse and varied sonorities, mixing deep voices and electro waves, strings and subtle layers. Constantly torn between body weight and elevation, earthy or aerial energy, the bodies always seem on the verge of imbalance, instability or rather intranquillity. It’s a fine score of states and moods that multiplies movement tenfold in as many expressions as there are performers.
Suddenly, a cloud of smoke explodes in the center of the stage to great effect. When it gradually dissipates, a new language is born, grotesque, burlesque and extravagant, reminiscent of Combat de Carnaval and Carême, playing on gestural oppositions and even radical contradictions that demand flawless virtuosity from the dancers, while their cries and madness suggest total abandon.
Is it anger? Perhaps. What is certain is that tenderness is present in duets of feverish gentleness and shadowy affection, materializing in spirited lifts and embraces. Is this gentle madness a form of resistance, an invitation to reinvent the way we live together? In any case, the whole is a superb dance piece that opens up our imaginations.
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Agnès Izrine
