Image supplied by Milonga.
Milonga – literally the word for a tango party – set the Joan Sutherland Auditorium alight with a dazzling display of technique and simmering, explosive passion.
Combining both contemporary dance and the tango, with a touch of Pina Bausch, Milonga constitutes a series of vignettes: the dancers swapping partners; each duet with a story to tell. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s astonishing choreography is extremely intricate, demanding and precise. Each duet is seamlessly interwoven into the ensemble work and the entire team of a dozen dancers leave you gasping.
Cherkaoui will be familiar to Sydney audiences from his previous collaborations which cross cultural boundaries, including ‘Dunas’ with flamenco star Maria Pages and ‘Sutra’ with monks from the Shaolin temple, ‘Babel’ and ‘Sacred Monsters’.
In collaboration with tango superstar Nelida Rodriguez, some of Cherkaoui’s choreography is dangerous and athletic, with its slides and drags, showy lifts, spins and twirls. Sometimes the dancers appear to be almost boneless. Extremely precise timing is required and there are emphatic knee flicks with the dancers’ amazing virtuosity showing off the tango’s conflicting emotions of grief, elation, passion and melancholy. Their legs dart, flicker and interweave like fish; they stretch, corkscrew, scissor and sizzle. One of the early tangos has the couple consciously avoid looking at each other for most of the dance, invoking Orpheus and Eurydice. In others, the dynamic is instantly hot and spicy.
Sometimes the dancers sit in the circle of chairs and observe their colleagues and then get up and interact. There are repeated phrases of movement in unison, contrasted with, for example, a slinky, sultry sculptural passionate trio (one man and two women). This is complemented by a superb, dazzling trio of men, with huge jumps and amazing fluid lines. Silvina Cortes has an incredible solo where she appears to go mad, haunted by her memories. A passionate duet of steamy seduction, surrender and eventual rejection condenses a longterm relationship into a few short minutes.
The brilliant musicians led by Fernando Marzan are to the side of the stage. They play a mix of tango regulars such as Piazzolla’s ‘Libertango’, along with inventive and delightful variations by Cherkaoui’s regular collaborative composer Szymon Brzóska. The stage itself is transformed to be sort of like a dance hall, extra ‘crowd’ figures at times indicated by blank silhouettes or coloured projections. Street scenes are also shown , one particular couple morphs into a vast kaleidoscope, stiff cardboard cut-outs come alive, while another multiplies into a buzzing crowd of performers.
The house went wild at the end with multiple curtain calls and an extended standing ovation. A riveting performance of mesmerising theatricality, both engrossing and glamorous.
Rating: 4 ½ out of 5 stars
Milonga
Director and choreographer: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
Lighting design : Adam Carree
Sound design Gaston Briski
Costume Design: Tim Van Steenbergen
Set and video design: Eugemio Szwarcer
Composer: Szymon Brzoska
Tango consultant: Nelida Rodriguez
Joan Sutherland Auditorium, Sydney Opera House
www.sydneyoperahouse.com
12-15 June
