Exciting and original, “WHIM, Fractured Fairytale” choreographed by Alexander Ekman is a humorous and wonderfully performed piece of dance theatre. We show here the first part of the ballet. It is performed by the It Danza of the Insititute of Theatre in Barcelona. The music is for this section is Antonio Vivaldi.
This piece is sheer fun, clever and full of unexpected surprises. The choreography is contemporary combined with a lot of pedestrian movement and gesture. Ekman has also used voice as an additional element where the dancers use their voices to speak and make vocal sounds such as coughing and shrieking. In one section, the music is, the dancers calling out their names as they make corresponding gestures to create a fascinating and witty dance. This part is intriguing and the humor is created with impeccable timing.
My favorite part is the section where the dancers are seated on chairs in lines across the stage. The dance consists of vocal sounds with words coupled with the ordinary movement people make sitting at desks, in movie theatres or waiting somewhere. The clever use of silence and stillness creates an exciting tension and dynamic that is contrasted by sudden chaotic noise and movement.
The “Chair” dance switches in and out of chaos as the music moves in to bring order through a particularly chatty part. This is a very clever transition as Ekman has used the violin in the music as an external power that speaks and brings the dancers to order as they pick up the dance with the string section. The whole chair part is really strong.
Take note how Ekman has the dancers move the chairs to define the spaces of the different sections; they are arranged in a messy pile, spread out in rows, or to create a strong diagonal line across the stage.
This dance is great and the dancing is super! It is unexpected, fascinating and great fun to watch!
I hope you will enjoy it too!
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