One and Others

Inspired by a wooden sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, Demis Volpi created ‘one and others’ in 2015 for the Ballet Nacional del Sodre in Uruguay. To the sound of a string quartet by the contemporary composer Christos Hatzis, a very direct, emotional work was created in which ten dancers negotiate states of togetherness. The British choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is now particularly celebrated for his full-length narrative ballets. However, Wheeldon also has a more abstract, neoclassical past: back in the 1990s he started choreographing for New York City Ballet, where he created ‘Polyphonia’ – an extremely challenging work in technical terms and a landmark in dance history.

The experience of the physical and mental state required is extremely intense – not only for the audience but also for the dancers who love performing the works of the Israeli choreographer Sharon Eyal. ‘Salt Womb’ was created in 2016 for Nederlands Dans Theater and takes us on an inner journey where ritual and trance light up the darkness. In her thoroughly individual, uncanny seeming movement vocabulary of grotesquely hunched, repetitively disciplined bodies, Eyal creates states of trance that refuse to let go of us.