Cullberg Ballet
Singapore Arts Festival 2009
6 June 2009

by Jessica Ho

Aluminium
by Mats Ek

I entered the theatre thinking that I would be watching something a little more classical since the name of the group was after all, Cullberg Ballet.  I was pleasantly surprised when the curtains opened and revealed a lady wearing a grey dress standing with bare feet who was staring at a table with aluminium plates on it.  While she danced around the table made also of aluminium, her eyes never left the plates.  Finally, she broke the silence when she pushed the plates off the table, making a loud clanging noise.  Soon after, a man entered with a puzzled look on his face, and he tried to comfort and to console the lady.

Throughout the piece, I felt that the music composed by John Adams appeared to be the main driving force. It had a constant tension or resistance that is difficult to comprehend but there were certain parts that seemed to calm and settle down a little.

The second section consists of two tables with a table lamp placed on top of each. There is a man and a woman on each table. The positions of the tables are placed in such a way that the table further back seemed to shadow the one in the front. Even the movements were all done in a canon effect - shortly after the first couple finished a phrase of movements, the second couple followed. To me, the scene depicts the environment of a home, with the lamp being the household reference. It was as if the life and light of a household was so dependent on that single table lamp.

Shortly, a large ensemble of dancers came flooding in as if reflecting the thoughts of the couples. They moved in such agitated movements and they even started banging the aluminium tables against each other. Soon after, several dancers entered holding a fork, a spoon or a table knife in their hands. They played around with the cutlery, some waving them aimlessly and others caressing the spoons on their faces.

Finally, a huge container was lowered at the back of the stage. One lady ran towards it, opened it and began to take things out of the container and put them on herself. In the end, she ran towards the front of stage where the audience can finally see that she was wearing - a lot of huge black protective gear on her chest, elbows, knees, and head. She had a fearful expression on her face and looked somewhat insane. She ran around the stage as if hiding from something before dashing off the stage.

I felt that the piece featured a lot of stereotype contemporary movements. What puzzled me was that there were funny moments in the piece that seemed rather out of place, such as random coughing, digging ears, funny gestures and odd head movements. To me, those moments seemed to break the entire flow of the choreography but, I’m sure the choreographer had good reason to include these.  What I did like was the exploration of their aluminium props.

As If

by Johan Inger

We hear the rumbling sound of the volcano on the verge of eruption as the scene opens with a huge black wall scattered with footholds.  The position of the wall moved ever so slowly that it seemed almost unnoticeable.  The dancers moved around the wall in a tight group with awkward movements that created alien-like images. Then they expanded into a huge circle and increase their pace to a brisk.  The contrast of between the slow-moving wall and the circle of people walking briskly around it depicts the passing of time. Off and on there would be one or two people who would try to go against the flow and tried to stop the others as well; but they never succeed.

The one thing that really grabbed my attention was the ease and smoothness in the execution of the duets and trios. The movements seemed to interweave so naturally and effortlessly. It was as if their bodies were connected as one as they carried and threw each other to the left, right, and centre (girls included!).  They explored many movements on the wall such as climbing up the footholds, jumping on the wall, walking above the wall, hanging on the wall’s edge, and so on. Soon after, there was an odd moment when everyone started to dance together cheerfully as though they were a community of family and friends living together. Even the music changed from serious to a jazzy, happy-go-lucky tune.

There were several different stories depicted at once.  A guy tried to approach other dancers and to make conversations with them but to no avail. Everyone ignored him but yet he kept pressing on and trying his luck. He talked and asked so many questions until it came to a point when he resorted to cracking lame jokes and making racist statements just to get their attention. But, still no one responded to him, “as if” he did not exist.

And then, there is a tall, African-American guy who knocked endlessly on the wall “as if” trying to get someone to open up a door. He seemed quite desperate and in need of trying to escape from something.

Meanwhile there was a random couple in the middle of the stage engaged in a silent conflict.  Elsewhere, there were two guys shouting at each other in what sounded to me like Swedish. There were so many things going on at the same time that it was hard for the audience to choose which one to focus on.

After some time, everyone started rolling to one corner of the stage. When they reached its edge, they simply got up, returned to the beginning position and repeated the rolls.  The repetition implied the cycle of life in the endless rolls of waves in the sea.  There was a dancer who decided to go against the tide. The rest tried to carry her back or stop her but somehow, she was determined enough to push through.

Suddenly, everyone went back towards the wall and pushed it on one side until it started spinning. The girl who decided to be different stood on the other side of the wall. She seemed a little nervous as the wall started spun faster and faster until finally, she disappeared from sight.

I thought it was a splendid ending that was the icing on the cake. I truly enjoyed this dance because it was intriguing, thought-provoking, humorous, and had movements that were strong, interesting, and effortless.

Sponsorship Acknowledgements

Special thanks to: 
National Arts Council, Singapore
Singapore Tourism Board