Low Down

'Brilliant Limbs' is a multi-layered exploration of music and dance, in search of a collaboration that is more-than-usual―a real working relationship between the two and not simply the use of one by the other. It produces a porous (use of) space between the disciplines, both promising and well-worth 'bouncing' along to.

Review

We sit down to see an irregular black-box stage in front of us. The walls are black on all sides, but it is a non-cubical shape, which gives the impression of leaning to the left. The result is an optical illusion that destabilises the gaze somehow. The musicians appear: sax, drums, percussionists, bass, singers, led by composer and saxophonist Maarten Ornstein. Finally, we see the dancers (Isabelle Chaffaud en Samir Calixto), and without further warning, like a full-blow to the body, the music starts. It is a wild current. Lively and contagious; soon enough the audience is taken by it. Through their bodies, the dancers try to capture―and sometimes reply to―this crazy frenzy. The dance intermingles (rhythmically and spatially) with an overwhelming wave of music hitting us from all flanks.

Music is the core of the piece: a funky, jazzy, bluesy fusion full of rhythms. It is beautiful, fun, and expertly performed. The result is a multi-layered aural experience that devours all of us in the room. It fills the space entirely helping it to unfold, changing its nature, turning it into a denser yet porous experience. Scattered throughout the rhythm as islands (some mobile, some not) the musicians’ presence serves as a screen through which the dance moves freely. It is interesting to see a blurring of the space between dancers and musicians. In the midst of this musical fury, the musicians serve as a structure, allowing the dance to appear as an excess―a kind of foam.

'Brilliant Limbs' is an ode to life. It emerges as a very rich tissue of rhythms made evident through the musical play. Its plasticity is explored through the limbs of both dancers and musicians (and some black paint). Movement happens both through the highly trained and expressive body of the dancers and through the singers' bodies, allowing for different qualities of movement to play along with each other. The respect paid to their distinct material possibilities is a virtue that helps add an extra layer to the feast on stage.

Nevertheless, the porosity of the performing space is not only one of the most interesting features in the show; it is also one of its biggest challenges. Exploring the possibilities of this blurred space between disciplines is never easy. This was clear to me while witnessing these ‘brilliant limbs’ at work. Sometimes it certainly did work and sometimes the space appeared wanting something more. Perhaps the music was too dominating; perhaps the bodies should have been allowed to sing in silence in parts. It is perhaps in these liminal interactions that 'Brilliant Limbs' needs further work. Exploration of this collaboration, which by all means succeeds in being more than a typical relationship between dance and music, has still much to offer. It is unfinished business, demanding the continuation of a dialogue that has not yet showed its best parts. And (I believe) it can get really exciting if pursued.

Several of us joined the performance by happily bouncing in our chairs and constantly nodding to what happened on stage―the music by DASH! still resonates in my body several hours later. The time flew by to such an extent that when it finished (as abruptly as it started) the girl sitting next to me asked, genuinely surprised, “has it finished?” Brilliant Limbs  leaves you wanting more.

Reviewed by Diego de la Vega 3 September 2010

Website :

Listing

www.dashmusic.net/

To check out some more on DASH! (and perhaps sample some of their music): www.dashmusic.net