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THe did something very memorable in the opening days of this year Venice The Dance Biennale did not have any dance. Italian composer Andrea Salustri’s Invisible is built around, but with the flow of light, air, water and sound waves, with Salustri and his co-producer Alice Rende as shadowy figures driving things. They produce storms like Zeus and Poseidon, with sparkling veins, the sound of heavy rain (mostly small drops and bubbles amplified by powerful microphones) and a lot of smoke that eventually whips itself into a whirlwind.
Salustri, who won the invitation to Italy to create a new work for this year’s biennale, is a circus artist and philosopher, but also a choreographer – a much bigger meaning than one who makes dance. This year is the 20th festival dedicated to dance in Venice (dance was seen as part of the theater or music programs here until 1999, when it became an annual, then biennial, and the annual event of Venice’s artistic bonanza). In this year’s anniversary story, current artistic director Wayne McGregor joined four former directors to discuss their goals for the event. The question “what is dance” continued as an ongoing question, a question “so strange that it is still important in some way”, said the choreographer Marie Chouinard.
A new film, Life Lines, co-produced by McGregor and filmmaker Ravi Deepres, has created an archive of past festivals, showing that the range of dances here has grown and varied, from the traditional to the wild. There is no single story in contemporary dance, and McGregor’s theme for this year’s festival is No Time. According to the scientist Carlo Rovelli and the theory of quantum gravity, his is not a linear view of time, and without a doubt, in the dance (and in life), we carry our past always included until now. This is no more evident than in Soa Ratsifandrihana’s piece Fampita, Fampita, Fampitàna (which means “comparison, spread, competition” in Malagasy, the language of Madagascar, where the composer is from). It is part of living in the diaspora and being affected by the exciting, sometimes painful, experiences that connect us – especially the memories that are stored in our bodies, songs, stories and dance steps. It’s a quiet piece, a conversation between three dancers and the amazing guitarist Joël Rabesolo, in the sense that like most conversations they talk, then touch the deep, then take themselves, join together, tails. But it has its moments.
South Africa’s Mamela Nyamza is the recipient of this year’s Silver Lion award, for leading artist (The Golden Lion, for lifetime achievement, will be awarded to Australia’s Bangarra Dance theater company after the festival). Nyamza’s works are often driven by politics, although the politics of his biennale, The Herd/Less, are quiet. A group of brightly dressed people arrive on tin legs in tandem, looking like a tight knit, tight knit. People come out to fulfill the role of leader and the change of loyalty seems to be done secretly rather than by force – the traditional symbols of position or control including spears and bullets are present, but not used violently – and the perception of how this power moves underground.
Modern straight dance comes from Emanuel Gat, an Israeli choreographer who has lived in France for almost 20 years. His last works seen in the UK were he posted the song Tears of Fearthis one, called Five Days in the Sun, was danced to Mahler’s Fifth Symphony – now it’s different. But if you’re choosing a masterpiece like Mahler’s Fifth (sadly recorded; who can afford a live orchestra?), then the question is: what do you do with it? In some cases, the dance makes the music, in others it is not affected by it, or is not interested in it, only passing through some of the most interesting moments of the end of Romanticism. It’s all done on purpose – Gat is a trained musician, and has previously spoken out about not making a sound – but to what end?
