Choreographer: Marcos Morau
The first thing that strikes you as the curtain comes up on Catalonian company La Veronal’s Pasionaria is how small its stage is. The giant Sadler’s Wells space is reduced to a smaller, neon-edged box depicting what appears to be the grey lobby of an apartment complex.
Max Glaenzal’s set design is dominated by a giant, sweeping staircase, whose opaque balustrade allows dancers’ torsos to seem to glide smoothly down – or, in one case, to create the illusion of a performer’s hands and feet detaching from the rest of her body.
That is one of several humorous pieces in a production which often balances a less than serious approach to performance with disquieting moments of body horror. This apartment building, it appears, is populated by characters who are humanoid, but may not be entirely human. Androids whose limbs seem to obey some rag doll version of physics proliferate, as do dancers who, combined with other company members, seem to possess more limbs than usual.
The theme of the show is, perhaps, exploring what constitutes humanity by showing how people with any semblance of humanity removed may look and move. Beyond that, though, there is little in the way of narrative cohesion, lessening the impact of the themes La Veronal’s choreographer and artistic director Marcos Morau wishes to explore.
There are moments to savour, though: a brief moment where all eight dancers perform in unison is sublime, while sound designer Juan Cristóbal Saavedra’s eclectic music choices (ranging from classical to electronica – and, with the introduction, of Isao Tomita’s 1970s synth reworking of Debussy’s arabesques, both at once) are reflected in the variety of styles of mime and interpretive dance used to realise each moment.
Perhaps most impressive, though, is Esterina Zarillo’s video design for the view from the set’s large rear window. Starting off as a full moon over a metropolitan night sky, we are also taken on a journey around the stars, before orbiting and crash landing on the Moon itself.
Does it mean anything? Probably not. But like the rest of Pasionaria, while it may speak in the abstract, it’s awfully pretty while doing so.
Continues until 4 May.
