Nombre: Vaivé
Coreografía: Laia Santanach Granel y Miquel Barcelona Palau
Intérpretes: Laia Santanach Granel y Miquel Barcelona Palau , de la compañía Asociación Vòrtex
Like a street lamp, a white spotlight falls into the middle of the stage. Expressionless, Miquel Barcelona walks into it, his hand moving like the hand of a clock, its kinetics echoing that of the music.
Laia Santanach walks to his back, her hands like another gearwheel catching with his. But Santanch sometimes jumps out of the mechanical relationship, as if shifting between human and object. Such symbols of action and relationship between give the work a strong theme from the start.
The white light turns from the front of the stage onto the two dancers, casting shadows on the backcloth to create an image of two people becoming one. Now, the gears no longer run smoothly: both dancers twist and rotate repeatedly, as if their motions have become stuck. It’s the strongest image of the piece, and also takes the mechanical precision of the work to the next stage, which focuses on the development of the material of their hands. The choreography makes it easy for the viewer to trace the development of the structure, and to sense the series of movements that are simultaneously soft and strong.
Barcelona gradually begins to control the action, then gradually exits the stage. It’s as if he has removed the clockwork, leaving Santanch unbalanced and uncoordinated: she continues to dance but the mechamism seems broken. As in the whole duet, there is both humanity and machinery in her presence. Who controls who?
Ching Ying Chien