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Sasha Waltz is not easily scary. A previous visit to London saw her struggling with the diabolical polyrythms of Igor Stravinsky Spring rite. Now, 10 years later, Waltz and his business have brought their point of view on the minimalist milestone of Terry Riley In c. Performance is part of the center of the South Bank Multitudes Season who juxtaposes orchestral music with other forms of art to surprising and occasionally exciting effect.
Created in 1964, In c consists of 53 short musical patterns which are played in order by musicians. Riley has never specified instrumentation or overall size, allowing individual players to repeat or riff on the different segments until the room finally stops at about an hour after its start. The nervous interaction between solo musicians has an atmosphere of undoubted jazz and requires lively ears and quick responses. Twelve players from the London Sinfonietta, in the scene just in a narrow block, were more than equal to Riley's “guided improvisation” and seemed imperturbable by the 11 dancers sometimes moving away in the orchestra space.
Riley's play has an obvious appeal as a model for contemporary and Waltz dancemaker is far from being the first to be seduced by its possibilities. In 1970, Carlos Carvajal choreographed a version for San Francisco Ballet. Reading Louise Coetzer in 2016 dancing on a mixture with two laptops from the score. In 2021, during locking, Twyla Tharp – herself a very accomplished musician – worked via Zoom with Ballett Am Rhein de Düsseldorf to make Comments on the floating world.
Like Riley, Sasha Waltz designed 53 “cells” of movement on which his dancers shoot, delaying, doubling or accelerating each sentence as they see fit. The dozens of barefoot dancers share and exchange many sentences like musicians and will sometimes slip into and out of a routine in unison.
Jasmine Lepore dresses them in a wash service of vests, shorts and pants using an uncomfortable mixture of primary and tertiary nuances. This random palette is reflected in the generous lighting (although slightly hyperactive) of Olaf Danilsen which washes the stage and the hollow in a succession of colors as a vintage cinema organ.
Originally designed (like the version of Tharp) up to the pandemic, Waltz In c had its first performance as live delivery in 2021, but has since exceeded the concert hall, becoming a key element in the commitment of his business with Caracas communities in Kharkiv. The Waltz movement is not without rigor but we can see that students and amateurs join it In c The project would probably face its requests fairly comfortably.
Waltz and her dancers kiss In cThe improvised atmosphere is quite happily, but never really corresponds to the extraordinary interaction between the musicians of London Sinfonietta, who are the real stars of the evening. As the patterns are deployed, you find that your ear and your brain go to the sound landscape. Each instrument – the noodle trombone, the bottom of Borming – continues its own path through the 53 cells, but all combine as by magic in a wonderful sound scheme: diversified but harmonious, like the song of birds.
★★★ ☆☆
The “Multitudes” festival continues until Saturday May 3 SouthBankCentre.co.uk
