Sonically divine but lacking in passion
The international dance festival Dance Umbrella continues its tour in venues across London. This time they’re hitting up the concert hall of the Barbican Centre with a fusion of song and dance in Gesualdo Passione, a collaboration between Les Arts Florissants and Compagnie Amala Dianor.
Musically it is a real work of beauty. Carlo Gesualdo’s haunting acapella work for six voices, with all its lonesomeness and tenderness, is remarkably sung in the very capable hands of Les Arts Florissants under the direction of Paul Agnew. Gesualdo’s score, which blends the monastic and ancient with his chromatic ingenuity, is contemplative, even a little detached in its meditation. The singers however find warmth and humanity, melting through the lilting melodies.
This is, however, a dance festival, and I am primarily concerned with the dance elements of the work — sadly this is where things begin to falter. It is my first encounter with Amala Dianor’s work, who is known for blending street styles with classical and contemporary vocabularies. This works exceedingly well in certain pockets, particularly when danced by Dexter Bravo and the very strong Clément Nikiema (Judas), whose agitated krumping brilliantly captures the agitating spirit of the man who would betray Jesus.
But largely the movement is uninteresting. The vocal ensemble look especially uninitiated and uncomfortable in Dianor’s choreography, and there is a fairly stark segregation between them and the dancers. Consequently the four dancers feel a bit lost at sea during most of the action, dancing away while the six vocalists randomly walk with gusto. The vocalists pace and wander a lot, as well as point accusatory fingers, it is a passion play after all.
The hip-hop dancers are excellent at hip-hop, the contemporary dancers are excellent at contemporary, but when it all comes together it all feels diluted rather than amplified. There is one exception to this where in the work’s final moments three of the four dancers, one is the fallen Christ and is laid out on the floor after doing an awful lot of crucifix arms, stamp out a rhythm to Gesualdo’s sparse score. They rip through the space with a real sense of vitality — rarely seen otherwise in this work.
This vitality, however, comes far too late. In all, Gesualdo Passione just feels rather flat. The ensemble are seemingly in two different works, their sense of cohesion only evidenced by being dressed in the same black robes. The design element is also largely weak, with a wrinkled back cloth and a few LED bars that feel a touch too tacky for the tabernacle. The lack of solid theatrical elements fail to uplift what feels like just another run-of-the-mill retelling of the passion of Christ.