Over a period of nearly three weeks between March 9-23, Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels is the first edition of an exciting festival celebrating choreography in modern and contemporary dance in partnership with The Royal Opera House, Tate Modern and Sadler’s Wells. With a plethora of influential works on show this year (seventeen to be exact) and I was fortunate to catch French choreographer Boris Charmatz in his solo performance, Somnole, at Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis Studio last Friday evening.
Somnolence is the feeling of being on the brink of sleep and in this hour-long dance piece, Charmatz explores this idea through movement and sound. The entirety of the piece involves a mediative quality anchored by continuous whistling from Charmatz and on occasion is broken up by moments of audience interaction and humour. Whistling in particular is the key feature in this work. Sometimes it is ambiguous and it’s difficult to understand where the sound is coming from or sometimes it resembles a well-known tune like Morricone’s The Good The Bad and The Ugly. In both scenarios, however, it interrogates the physicality required to produce such a sound and demands from its performer an impressive stamina. As the sound intertwines with the movement which is often repetitive, spiralling and circular, each element influences each other and takes the viewer on a journey between what feels like concise and unconscious moments but never lingering on either one for long.
This work is performed in a black box theatre space, stripping any possibility of placing it in a concrete environment. For the most part, I remained in the theatre space without entering any visual dreamlike state, despite the invitation through familiar tunes and gestures. I question, therefore, is a feeling of Somnolence one of purgatory, neither here nor there? One of the most successful moments of the work came when the fourth wall was well and truly dropped and Charmatz began a slow dance with an audience member before conducting us in a whistle orchestra. Unfortunately, it was a long way in before this interaction was made and it felt like it was over before it began.
The lighting design by Yeves Godin was a simple silvery state supporting the minimalist aesthetic of the work nicely and the costume by Marion Reginer, a skirt made of different patterned strips of material, helps to give the movement a lightens in contrast to the heavier muscular physique of the dancer.
My main criticism of the piece relates to the quality of the movement. Although engrossing with a clear flow and cohesive structure, it lacked any dynamic and stayed on one note for the most part in a middle ground of wight, tempo and texture. Repetition is interesting but without some evolution or nuance, the piece becomes stagnant in many moments.Somnole is a dreamlike experience that sits on the edge of reality. As an audience member you are subject to the ebb and flow of its affective mediative quality as Charmatz draws you in then leaves you to float alone.
Review by Stephanie Osztreicher
Rating: ★★★
