New ideas

Les Ballets C de la B
Sadler’s Wells Theatre

Jérôme Bel
Lilian Baylis Studio at Sadler’s Wells

Within the past two weeks Sadler’s Wells played host to two memorable modern dance performances: Pitié! and A Spectator. They could not have been more different, and yet they both showed how, in an arts world plagued by unimpressive imitations and continuous regurgitations of old ideas, there are still those who can break stale moulds and make an impact. Neither Alain Platel and his Les Ballets C de la B, nor Jérôme Bel are everyone’s favourites. Their controversial works have often irritated dance-goers. Still, their provocations are synonymous with artistic vibrancy, creativity and, above all, intelligence, as the two performances in question demonstrated.

Pitié! is the outcome of a new collaboration between Platel and the composer Fabrizio Cassol. Daringly based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion, it proposes an exploration of deeply emotional issues that range from sacrifice to maternal love, through a choreographic and musical reading of the celebrated — and somewhat untouchable — work. Purists might frown and shiver at the idea of Bach’s music being reworked, and some might feel uneasy at the idea of a religious theme being turned into a frenzied choreographic act, in which images inspired by baroque art mix freely with harsher visual ideas, encompassing exposed buttocks and quick, but not so subtle references to scatological acts. Pitié! is not about desecration and is not blasphemous, though. It is a well thought out, almost philosophically conceived performance in which live music, unique singing, dramatic and, at the same time, humorous acting and, above all, first-class dancing engage the viewers in a powerful, though never tiring, game of cogently stimulating provocation.

What I found particularly outstanding was the perfect balance between Cassol’s music, played by Aka Moon, and Platel’s devised action.