Stunning describes the excerpts of this ballet called, Speak for Yourself, danced by members of Nederlands Dans Theatre I. It is choreographed by the joint husband and wife team, Sol Leon and Paul Lightfoot in 1999. The music is layered with sound track of Steve Reich and J. S. Back.
Sol Leon is a Spanish trained dancer and Paul Lightfoot is and English one. They met while they were both dancing with the Nederlands Dans Theatre working under Jiri Kylian and other prominent choreographers. They started working together in 1989 and became resident choreographs for the company in 2002 and have since choreographed over 40 pieces for the company. They continue to create works together.
Speak for Yourself in this video is one of their wide range of works. Mr. Lightfoot describes this work as a “chemistry experiment between two elements”. It is an exploration of what happens when fire and water collide. The ballet begins with a solo dancer moving with a smoke canister strapped to his back. As he dances smoke billows out from behind and swirls and coils around him filling up the space. Further excerpts cut to scenes which show the dancers dancing in trios and pairs in soft drizzling rain which shimmers as it catches the golden light. One of the main features of this ballet is the special lighting effects with the smoke and rain.
The overall result is stunning and the choreography is strong and fluid with erratic grace. I particularly like the opening sequence of the two male dancers. Their beautiful strong sculptured bodies roll and weave as they command and fill the space around them. And also, the gorgeous duet in the final clips danced in glistening light as they enfold and mold around one another in the soft drizzling rain; A very beautiful image.
Unfortunately we cannot see this ballet in its entirety, but we can get a glimpse of this wonderful piece danced by this stellar company!
Enjoy these stunning images! And SHARE!
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