Abstract Circle Dance with Emotional Outbursts

Until now, choreographer Harijono Roebana said during the introduction to the performance, he and his colleague Andrea Leine had avoided the circle a bit in their work, because of its inevitable association with the magical and ritualistic. In their dance Storm that circle in all its symbolic and ritual power is correctly thematized. It also circles in the fascinating music of composer Calliope Tsoupaki. With meandering lines, David Kweksilber on (bass) clarinet evokes Greek atmospheres, often followed by David Mackor, who theorbo can also be used as a rhythm instrument. Dominique Chabot’s double bass acts as a booster for the manic dance drive of six dancers. Sometimes also by the three musicians, who have their own choreography.

Tsoupaki and Leine have a Greek connection: Tsoupaki is Greek by birth, Leine has been coming to Greece since childhood, where she became fascinated by the folk dances. Draw from that source Storm with a succession of group dances, trios, duets and solos in which rudiments of Greek folk dances can be recognized: the springy steps, the arm positions, sometimes a ‘sirtaki sequence’, briefly a circle. And although the dancers largely operate independently of each other, they still seem connected by a sense of community, just as music and dance are autonomous and yet together.

Within the group there is room for self-expression and emotions. With savage screams, individual dancers sometimes dash through the space or whirl at an accelerating pace in a daze. Dancer Andrea Pisano uses a joint invocation of the four elements. Such stormy outbursts create openings in the abstract dance with its stylized design (Carlijn Veurink), so that Storm at times radiates a pleasant earthly warmth. The sun, in the form of a sculptural, circular harmonica costume, completes its daily cycle, while the final image, an elongated harmonica line, offers tranquility.