It is as if the Israeli choreographer with her dark show Into the Hairy Voorvoeld has what would happen

There they go again, the dark souls. Their bodies brought out of balance by getting elegant on the toe points with one leg, with the other flat on the floor. Close together, as a breathable organism they wander over the stage, their flexible movements sometimes abruptly interrupted. Searching, hiding together for nameless disaster.

No, it is not a cheerful club, the ensemble of nineteen dancers of the Dutch Dance Theater and Acht van Sed, the company of the Israeli Sharon Eyal. The explanation in the program booklet (a text by the choreographer himself) says enough: « Dirty and Gentle. Broken. Alone. Alone. Alone. Alone. Deeper. Stronger. Waker. Sadder. More Alone. Hole. « 

That was a striking description of the feeling that Into the Hairy Two years ago when it was shown in the original version for eight dancers during Julidans. Due to the in- and in-drier, lost and dark atmosphere, it seemed, looking back, as if she had cooled what was about to happen a few months later: the massacre that is being answered with all-destructive revenge to this day. The black, heavily running out makeup of the dancers also pointed to an unstoppy.

Inhospitability

Is ominous Into the Hairy (‘Where it is creepy’) Still, not least because of the picturesque electrosounds of composer Koreless, who alternates echoing spatial sound fields with rhythmic beats. The lighting design with shining, diffuse light items from above also contributes to the overall inhospitability of the world in which these souls have to keep up in elegant black sides, but torn bodysuits (Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri).

In a slow stream, a choreography is developing full of bright torses, wavy arms with hands as claws and precisely placed insect legs in which the different influences are recognizable; Hip club culture as well as folksy elements, contemporary dance as well as classical ballet.

The XL ensemble makes it possible to play with wide-leaving setups and sculptural tableaus in which the dancer group splits in mirroring or, as in one of the last images, a kind of carnivorous mass in which a dancer disappears, with trembling lower leg in classic serré.

Despite the unmistakable power of this new version – which the audience got on the seats – it seems as if the enlargement removes something from the raw expression of the original from 2023. As if the emotion of loneliness and soul pain is less coming out of the impressive, sometimes almost slick effect of the masses. Apart from that: again beautiful Dirty and Gentle.

<dmt-util-bar article="4893602" data-paywall-belowarticle="" headline="Het is alsof de Israëlische choreograaf met haar duistere voorstelling Into the Hairy voorvoeld heeft wat er zou gaan gebeuren » url= »https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2025/05/16/het-is-alsof-de-israelische-choreograaf-met-haar-duistere-voorstelling-into-the-hairy-voorvoeld-heeft-wat-er-zou-gaan-gebeuren-a4893602″>


To share

Mail the editors