A Brief Encounter with... Matthias Sperling
Do not be afraid
Duet with Rachel Kirsche
Last Friday I had the privilege to witness Mathias Sperling performing a duet with Rachel Kirsche, two contemporary dancers with amazing skills, artists who work with very ambitious ideas.
On their first appearance on stage the first thing I have noticed was the funny costume design and a mixture of strong colors, like: red, purple, black, yellow and green. Their costumes bring the image of a superhero, with a cloak hanging on their backs, fact that suggest the superpower possession. Their initial movement looked very funny, but they were acting like very serious and strong persons, which had an intensely effect over the audience, who went into fits of laughter from the first moment the dancers came on stage.
During all piece, the choreographer chose not to use music, but the dancers were following their own breath rhythms. Another important artifice was the direct communication with the audience, by asking them to give marks for a specific choreographic sequence, which made a special connection between dancers and public. The choreographer used the voice and a range of ballet poses and waited for the audience's reactions to them, fact that made the message of the piece so clear.
In my opinion the concept of this performance is based on mocking a different type of dance- ballet and to express a specific stereotype of dancer. Moreover this piece was “screaming” for individuality, for stopping to copy a certain movement style.
During the second part of the performance, the dancers got connected by an mp3 player and they seemed to develop their own funny dance, which had a well-defined rhythm. At the end of the piece, the choreographer used the same movement as in the beginning, which suggests a symmetry of every dance rehearsal: a warm up and a cool down.
In conclusion I think this piece came with a new concept, very well explored by the artists and it had a very strong impact over the audience, but on the other hand I don't agree the way they “attack” another type of art for which many people had dedicated their lives.
We had an amazing night at Queen Elizabeth Hall watching Matthias and Candoco Dance Company.
The tickets gave me some ideas for our performance project tickets, or for my future performances.
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