`Sleepless’ beautiful and energetic
By TRESCA WEINSTEIN
Special to the Times Union
BECKET, Mass. â€¦ Contrary to what its name suggests, a glass harmonica â€¦ also called a hydrocrystalophone â€¦ is actually a long spindle of glass vessels of different sizes, lined up sideways and fitting inside each other, which can be played by rubbing their rims with a moistened finger. The sounds it produces are haunting, mysterious and intriguing â€¦ adjectives that also describe “Sleepless,” a dance by Jiri Kylian that is performed to and inspired by the music of the glass harmonica.
“Sleepless” received its U.S. premiere at Jacob’s Pillow Wednesday evening, during the opening night of this week’s Pillow debut of Nederlands Dans Theater II. (Kylian directed the troupe’s parent company, Nederlands Dans Theater, for 25 years before becoming resident choreographer in 1999.) The piece â€¦ set to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1791 composition for glass harmonica, “Adagio in C-minor KV 617” â€¦ confirms Kylian’s brilliance, audacity and ability both to entertain and to awe.
Doubled and distorted in shadow form on a backdrop made up of a row of panels, the movement is sometimes sharp, sometimes fluid, sometimes spiraling like the glass instrument itself. The six dancers slip in and out of the cracks between the panels in unexpected ways, using their shadows and their partial visibility to create clever optical illusions. A series of intricate but never fussy duets, each precisely and powerfully articulated, is neither sensual nor romantic but instead reads like an extended experiment in fitting bodies together, one that produces surprising, often breathtaking discoveries.
The balletic movement in “Simple Things,” choreographed by Hans van Manen, looked mannered and conventional after “Sleepless,” but showcased the strength and boundless energy of the dancers, particularly Ivan Perez and Javier Monzon, who engage in a friendly competition of muscular leaps and turns. The company is made up of 16 dancers between the ages of 17 and 23 (some of whom will likely graduate to the prestigious first company, which was founded in 1959 and made its U.S. debut at the Pillow six years later). It would be tough to find a better-looking crowd of young people outside an Abercrombie and Fitch ad, but Perez nevertheless stands out for his ease and eloquence.
He was equally riveting in “Dream Play,” which represents a 180-degree turn in mood and style from the splashy lightness of “Simple Things.” The dream seems to be conjured in the mind of Perez, who becomes the object of desire for two women (portrayed by Sarah Reynolds and Nina Botkay). Johan Inger’s choreography is jittery and jagged, with a ritual-like patterning that occasionally gives way to a subtle edge of violence â€¦ an unusual and beautiful match for
Igor Stravinsky’s well-worn “Le Sacre du Printemps.”
Tresca Weinstein is a freelance writer from Canaan and a regular contributor to the Times Union.
DANCE REVIEW: NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER II
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Jacob’s Pillow, 358 George Carter Road, Becket, Mass.
Program: “Sleepless,” “Simple Things,” “Dream Play”
Length: 100 minutes, two intermissions
Continues: 8 p.m. tonight through Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Tickets: $58; 10 percent discount for seniors, students and children 13 and under
Info: (413) 243-0745 or http://www.jacobspillow.org