New York Metropolis Heart, New York, NY.
April 4, 2024.

Over the course of 4 days in April, the cool youngsters got here to city. Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), the bastion of up to date dance in Europe based mostly in The Hague, handled sold-out NYC dance audiences to 3 works throughout its first tour to America since 2020. For many people within the viewers, NDT’s earlier efficiency was the final we noticed dwell in theaters earlier than the Covid lockdown. The return of the corporate to the identical theater (New York Metropolis Heart) felt in some methods like lastly turning the web page on a darkish chapter of dwell efficiency, though the celebration was a celebration the place issues bought just a little darker than anticipated, however you’re nonetheless glad you went and left extra worldly than you have been earlier than. 

William Forsythe’s N.N.N.N. opened the present – a quartet utilizing primarily breath sounds as a rating (there’s a low pulse enjoying as properly). The dancers, in apply garments, used each other to create chains of dance, not not like the sport youngsters play once they construct a machine with motion and noise utilizing voice and transferring physique components. On this elevated model, nevertheless, stream linked every motion to let it dance, not simply transfer. 

The U.S. premiere of The Level Being, choreographed by siblings Imre and Marne van Opstal in live performance with mild set up by Lonnie Gordijn and DRIFT, made for a futuristic tone to ponder the instances when seemingly unrelated occasions collide. It might be truthful to say that the lighting facet of the piece was as helpful because the dancing and the choreography, making this a trifecta of dance, mild and sound. The dichotomy of the stark mise-en-scène with the morphing fluidity of the our bodies in it allowed the concepts of concord and friction rise to the floor. 

Lastly, we see Jakie with dancers on demi-pointe your complete time — and it was not a brief piece. The 16-person ensemble, all clad in nude-colored leotards, appeared nearly as blobs, then militaristic strains, then again to blobs, with dancers breaking out for brief sections earlier than being re-amassed into the group. With Gaga-based choreography by Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar, creature-like motion with the occasional stunning ballet line dominated the work. The shifts between the weather have been hypnotizing and fed the true energy of this work – watching the dancers grasp the technical calls for of such choreography. 

Whereas some could discover the tone of the night too chilly for his or her specific tastes (there will not be many feel-good moments), the prolonged applause stated in any other case. NDT collects the very best dancers on the planet and their dedication to the work comes via with a compelling subtlety. It’s like they might not care much less when you like them, however the brilliance with which they dance makes it unattainable to not.