The Monotony of an Extraordinary Lifestyle

  On the evening of March 2nd, I had the pleasure of witnessing Ballet BC perform the premiere of Adi Salant’s WHICH/ONE. Prior to this project, Salant worked alongside Ohad Naharin as the former co-artistic director of the Batsheva Dance Company in Israel from 2009-2017 before embarking on her career as a choreographer.  She continues to work from her strong roots in Gaga technique which is evident in her physical and dynamic choreography.

   Salant uses minimal movement, gestural phrases, and spatial confinement to create a drastic contrast between the music and choreography of the piece.  I will use key points from select chapters of Einav Katan’s Embodied Philosophy in Dance: Gaga and Ohad Naharin’s Movement Research and various interviews about the work to discuss how Salant’s use of this contrast highlights the practical and emotional experiences of everyday life as a professional dancer.

   Throughout approximately the first half of the piece, the dancers are accompanied by “I Hope I Get It” from the soundtrack of A Chorus Line, a broadway musical which “examines one day in the lives of seventeen dancers, all vying for a spot in the ‘chorus line’ of a Broadway musical”(A Chorus Line).  This upbeat, theatrical piece sheds a unique light on Salant’s choreography. 

   There is a blanket of small lights hanging around the perimeter of the stage which, although gives the stage a harmonious ambience, does confine the dancers as it blocks off their access to the wings.  This confined space restricts the dancers in later sections of repetitive and locomotive movements.  WHICH/ONE begins with variations of pedestrian walking which play with stillness, pathways, and groupings.  These patterns are fascinating although they are stripped of additional movement.  The dancers eventually begin to perform refreshing phrases consisting of a series of gestures.  The dancers argumentatively wave their hands at one another; they clutch their chests, raise their clasped hands towards the sky, and endure brief episodes of convulsions. 

Ballet BC dancers performing WHICH/ONE Photo by Michael Slobodian

     The piece opens with the dancers spread equally throughout their limited space.  Their bodies take on a liquid sensation as they float separately from one another.  The dancers come to a halt as they react to the abrupt music which jolts alive and delivers instructions.  “Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch... Again!”(Hamlisch) the voice demands, but the dancers do not satisfy the audience with these steps.  They remain still and, when instructed by the voice, they walk to adjust their positions on stage.  Here, Salant uses spatial cues from the music but ignores the movement cues.  She plays with formations, groupings, and efficiency in changing between them but does not have the dancers perform the movements being described; they simply walk to their places.

   While discussing the body as a means of expression, Katan suggests that “...expression is a communicative act since the artist transforms intentions and interests into aesthetic experience”(Katan 180).  I am curious what aesthetic experience Salant intends to create with this walking and stillness paired with the jubilant music.  The colossal contrast between the action in the music and the absence of movement startles the audience and leaves us hungry.  Although Salant does eventually succumb to the hunger, we are left fidgeting for what seems like one minute too many.  This juxtaposition of the two elements grasps my attention but leaves me confused.  The formations and architectural use of the space highlight the group of dancers as a whole but the music describes an individual journey.  In addition, the qualities of the elements are so vastly different that I am left overwhelmed, not knowing how to feel or react to the events.

   In an interview prior to the premiere of WHICH/ONE, Salant says that “some people, they create from what they dream about; I’m more about what I’m experiencing every day”(Salant).  I suspect that this stillness is meant to make the audience truly feel the pressure that the dancers must feel.  The frozen bodies make the audience wait intensely, just as the dancers would be waiting in the organized situation of an audition room.  The contrast of this absence of movement and the boisterous musical number is meant to have the audience mirror the performers’ anxiety.

Adi Salant rehearsing with Ballet BC dancers Photo by Michael Slobodian

     This anxiety is further encapsulated once the dancers begin to perform more extensive movements.  They begin to execute unison phrases comprised of a multitude of gestures.  The dancers reach dramatically towards the sky, clutch their chests, clasp their hands in front of themselves and drop their heads back as if to be pleading.  The bodies even fall to the ground and convulse violently.

   Since my previous speculation of intent, Salant takes a dramatic turn.  Before, the dancers were barely moving at all but now they are uncontrollable.  Moreover, Katan mentions that “the dancers of Batsheva Dance Company deal first and foremost with the act of formatting physical dynamics and movement qualities...intentionality is primarily directed to movement as a defining process, rather than to its expressive effect”(Katan 182).  I am led to believe that these movements may represent exactly what the gestures signify: a form of struggle.  Salant is using the contrast of the pleasant musical beat to further emphasize (or hide) the suffering of the dancers.  To consider Salant’s statement regarding “...experiencing every day”(Salant), her intention may be to convey an internal conflict despite external circumstances, perhaps in this case on a more literal level.  The dramatic, pain-induced gestures in combination with the theatrical soundtrack may be intentionally displaying the contrast between performative mood and internal struggle.

Ballet BC dancers Nicole Ward, Emily Chessa, and Justin Rapaport rehearse WHICH/ONE Photo by Michael Slobodian

     Salant uses the limited space on stage to display ideas related to the struggles of the dancers’ gestures.  The group is split in half, each portion inhabiting one half of the stage.  The two new groups interact from a distance; they mimic, stare at, and sometimes nod at one another.  One difference persists, which is the subtle dominance of the stage right dancers.  Their movements are performed more fully and with a much stronger dynamic.  They gaze on the stage left group, sometimes moving sharply to instigate a reaction.  These subtle details seem to suggest a power dynamic within the collective ensemble.  Although they are split in equal numbers in the space, the way in which the groups inhabit the space and react to each other differs.  This relationship could be meant to mirror that between a choreographer and dancer in the audition setting; the choreographer demonstrating the movement, encouraging a mirror image of oneself before observing the re-creation.  However, this episode could also represent the competitive nature of the audition setting.  Perhaps the conversation and shift of focus between the two groups could signify the choice being made between the dancers, hence the title WHICH/ONE.  

   These comparisons are evident throughout the duration of “I Hope I Get It,” however, the music shifts in the latter portion of the piece to a more ambient track.  This may dilute the contrast but the initial mood created earlier persists.  The dancers work in pairs, falling slightly only to be supported by their counterpart.  The pairs collectively join hands to run in a counterclockwise circle until one partner of each unit falls to then be spun on the floor, holding the arm of their counterpart.  The duets continue and rejoin one another again to repeat the ritual.  WHICH/ONE concludes with the dancers walking, weaving through one another in the limited space of the stage.  They walk abruptly to the edge of the space before turning abruptly and continuing with their path across the stage in a new direction.  This pattern repeats and continues. The dancers walk with such urgency that suggests they are searching for something which is never revealed.  Interestingly, Katan suggests that “...in the work of dancing, the motivation is to understand the logic of movement.  As a result, emotions need neither to be ignored nor to be forced towards a change”(Katan 118).  This conclusion to Salant’s piece may not appear logical;  the dancers seem to be wandering aimlessly.  However, both these examples of repetition, the circles and the pacing, convey a monotonous struggle.  Salant may be communicating that these tasks signify the seemingly aimless motion of everyday life. Perhaps the logic of these repetitive acts is to instil these feelings in the audience by forcing them to view the same phrases over and over.  

   WHICH/ONE integrates stillness, gestures, and spatial structure in contrast with Marvin Hamlisch’s “I Hope I Get It” to convey the struggles and internal conflicts of life as a professional dancer or perhaps life in general.  While speaking about the process, Salant shares that she is “all the time connecting [the piece] to life, to the everyday behaviour”(Salant).  Despite this claim, her choice to use excerpts from a broadway musical number is bold considering the artificial nature of the track.  Salant uses this to her advantage by contrasting the audio with her choreographic tools and further exposing the meaning of her work.  The atmosphere created by these juxtaposed elements in addition to the gestures of suffering and, especially, the repetition signifies the patterns of ones career; the dancers have attended countless auditions and have participated in this creative process over and over again.  Ultimately, this concept can relate to more than just the dance industry.  The majority of audience members, I’m sure, can connect to this embodiment of monotony.

   

Works Cited:

-“A Chorus Line (Musical) Plot & Characters.” StageAgent,

www.stageagent.com/shows/musical/1258/a-chorus-line.  

-”Adi Salant.”  Ballet BC, https://balletbc.com/bio/adi-salant/.

-Katan, E. (2016). Embodied Philosophy in Dance (Performance Philosophy). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

-Ramsay, Cynthia. “Ballet BC Creates with Salant.” Jewish Independent, 15 Feb. 2019, www.jewishindependent.ca/ballet-bc-creates-with-salant/.  

-Slobodian, Michael.  “Ballet BC's Program 2 takes viewers from a star-spangled galaxy to a wintry night.”  Georgia Straight Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly, 6 March 2018, https://www.straight.com/arts/1208041/program-2-takes-viewers-star-specked-galaxy-wintry-night.

-Slobodian, Michael.  “Ballet BC taps more Batsheva Dance talent with Adi Salant's world premiere.” Georgia Straight Vancouver’s News and Entertainment Weekly, 26 February 2019, https://www.straight.com/arts/1206181/ballet-bc-taps-more-batsheva-dance-talent-adi-salants-world-premiere.

-Slobodian, Michael.  “Program 2 for Ballet BC looks to the future with addition of Israeli choreographer.” Vancouver Sun, 25 February 2019, https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/local-arts/program-2-for-ballet-b-c-looks-to-the-future-with-addition-of-israeli-choreographer.