Kulturkompasset | critics of culture events

Montpellier Danse Festival 2014


Montpellier Danse Festival 2014.

COULISSES DEFILE by CHRISTIAN LACROIX (2007) foto: GREGOIRE_KORGANOW.

By Henning Høholt

MONTPELLIER/FRANCE: It is festival time all over Europe right now. One of the very famouse festivals is the Montpellier Danse Festival, which this year is celebrating its 34th. anniversary
. With a brilliant international program.

Unfortunately this year strikes has been spoiling some of the performances, as foreigner, and as the information spread from the striking parts allways is in french, it is not easy to understand what is going on.

However I had the possibility to attend three interesting evening performances.  Among these three – Sidi Larbei Cherkaoui & Yabin Wang´s  生长genesiss” was wonderful, for me, the international hit of the festival. Please enjoy the applause video from 27. June 2014 at Opera Berlioz: http://youtu.be/vkzRsfS6aKo

A full review of these productions will follow during the coming days at www.kulturkompasset.com

Matthieu Hocquemiller´s “(nou)” was an extraordinary performance, 5 nude dancers who playes with their and their colleagues bodies, in all imaginable and unimaginable ways, funny, beautiful, very sexy

.

Emanuel Gat´s “Plage Romantique”, I didn´t feel successfull. The great young dancers did their best, but the space is not perfect, – an open air arena inside the AGORA dance cencter, and difficult to fill up with action, it became too much running, and repeating the same movements, the dancers did the best out of the choreographic material they have got, but they were too busy looking after each other, and allways trying to be together, instead of expressing their own roles, and giving it all their own personality
. I also had the feeling that it could have needed two weeks more rehersals.

Grégoire Korganov´s beautiful photo exposition “Sortie de Scéne” also in AGORA was brilliant, he has managed to catch the dancers and their calm feelings expressing them self, in like a portrett seria in whole figures. Please enjoy some of the photos in this video from the exposition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB1Dds5NGpc

Unfortunately I didn´t manage to see Hooman Sharifi´s performance: “Every order eventually looses it´s terror”
.

Angelin Preljocaj´s “Empty moves” was cancelled due to strike. And since that also was the opening performance, there were no opening performance this year.

 

 

 

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