***** (Five stars)
A large human circle presides over the scene. fifty dancers Lying on their backs, they begin a continuum of staggered movements that causes a double effect: one related to optical illusion, and the other to abstraction and the reification of the body, which becomes a transmuting element. so it begins Colossus, the work that the Australian Stephanie Lake created in 2018 at the Arts Center Melbourne, with great critical and public success. The incorporation of this impressive work to the repertoire of the Contemporary Ballet of the Teatro San Martín it cannot be less than celebrated due to the challenge it implies for the company.
In this exercise in physical resistance, Lake uses a multiplicity of resources that challenge the viewer: screams in the dark that resolve in sudden order, unequivocal group movements that disperse into individuals, masses of dancers directed with simple and magnetic gestures by a single person, persecutions of all against all, and all against one. The dynamic discourse flows and slips through the most unexpected loopholes, provoking a sensation of expectation and tension that keeps you breathless.
Strength and fragility dialogue in the choreographic plot: the designs are built and dismantled in a matter of seconds. There are no stories in Colossus, a work that, however, refers us to the chaos of life itself, to the shipwreck of man in the immensity of the world. This chaos is also reflected in the sound aspect, which includes the rhythm of the dancers’ breathing, their own voice, body percussion and electronic sounds.
The interpretation by the members of the Contemporary Ballet places us in front of high-class artists. With some fleeting individual performances, the group shines for its resistance and its impeccable response to the demands of the choreography. They are not far behind the young graduates of the Contemporary Dance Workshop, which leads us to think with joy that the future of the genre is assured.
