A glimpse of Dunas

Last week, two of our da:ns programmers, Faith and Jobina, flew off to Barcelona/Girona, Spain, where they spent lots of time with Maria Pages and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and also previewed Dunas for the first time. They got back into the office today, and Jobina shares her thoughts on the piece here:

“It is not about contemporary meeting flamenco – it is about a meeting between two people – Maria and I”, says Larbi. And what a soulful union it is. Watching these two great dancemakers whom I admire so much – both for their work and as people – it reminds you again how dance has ability and complexity far beyond words to express so clearly, so deeply what the heart feels, and is. Even at rehearsal, watching Maria and Larbi feeling their way afresh each time with each other, accompanied to the stirring, aching tunes by Szymon Broska of piano, violin, flamenco and arab voice – you are transfixed and mesmerized – transported into the shadowy world of the Moroccon sandscape, where the varying shades of the emotions become so intense you can’t quite pin down what they are – you feel joy, as well as pain, you want to jump and clap along, as well as sit in quiet contemplation - and most of all, you feel this is why art must exist – to not just take your breath away – but to breathe life into you.

Every day, as we watch and watch again, we see new things, we feel new things, and think new things – and every time, we want to go back again, and again as though to learn to become more human once more. And to quote words from Karthika’s (Larbi’s manager whom I also have had a privilege of finally meeting face to face) newly published book of poems called Bearings - “I think I would like to die watching you dance.”

Go buy tickets for everyone you love, or even those you don’t – for a shared experience like this will transform all those polite and often general ways we try to find each other into a calm, centred nod of knowing we’ve already found each other in ourselves.

Jobina

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Wow. I mean, maybe it's best left at that because more words might do the work a disservice. Once in a long while, you get to watch something that is so astounding in its beauty, or profundity, that words don't quite seem to get the job done. For the rest of us who haven't seen it, maybe Dunas will be one of those rare gems. I certainly hope it is!