“DiscrimiNATION”. A different perspective
Every time I come to Kyiv Modern-Ballet performances, I never cease to be amazed. How can you make something dazzlingly new out of a familiar, well-read, many-times-staged work? Something not even hinted at in the source, as if it had been studied under a microscope or — on the contrary — a telescope, and acquired completely new notes and colours, becoming alluringly mysterious and wonderfully fresh!
Or take this dry title – “DiscrimiNATION”, which seems to say: you are about to be shown a great deal of pain, and you will feel sad. But the curtain rises, and on the stage there is magic that presents the problem from such an angle that it turns out things are not so bad after all. The skilfully placed ironic accents do not belittle the problem but make it easier to take in. They seem to say – much depends on you and on how you relate to this problem. And all this choreographic magic is made up of several vivid stories.
Love. The standard picture: a man and a woman. But if it is same-sex love – not every society will welcome it with open arms. And yet society can change. And you cannot imagine – how!
Old age, of course, is no joy. And the young leap about haughtily, laughing at old age and driving it into a far corner. And only the saints can pay it any attention… But more about the saints a little later.
The pictures change as in a kaleidoscope: someone is seized by madness, someone becomes a black sheep. Or here a guide leads the blind and the foolish, but only he can see the direction. Short, varied, intriguing stories. The artists dance as if they were breathing. And it never even occurred to me how difficult the choreography is until I heard the discussion of the audience members sitting behind me. And yet it looks so easy!
Besides the dancers, a mysterious figure lives a life of its own on the stage, manipulating enormous letters. There is something in him of Kai, who, having lost himself, tried to assemble the word “Eternity” from pieces of ice. Only in this case this lord of letters extracts words from the word “Discrimination”. And, let me tell you, he is very good at it! Only the letter «I» is constantly hunted by three holy souls…
So, about the saints. In a difficult moment we often turn to the heavens. But do the heavens have any concern for us? Perhaps at that very moment three drunken angels are on duty up there, who have a hell of a lot of their own amusements (forgive me, Lord!). And so this holy trinity, like the sabre-toothed squirrel from the cartoon “Ice Age”, leads its life full of comic adventures, periodically intervening in sinful human affairs. In fact, none of the human stories escapes the angels’ gaze, but a bad example can tempt not only a mortal.
Discrimination. This needs to be talked about. The version by Radu Poklitaru and Kyiv Modern-Ballet will inspire you. You will be delighted. Just as I was.
Nataliia Kriazh
IMPROVISATOR
