Review: Nederlands Dans Theatre II

May 23
Nederlands Dans Theatre II
RMB 80-580.
7.30pm. PLA Song and Dance Theater (6613 1718)

Not to be confused with Nederlands Dans Theater I or the now defunct NDT III, NDT II consists of 16 dancers aged between 17 and 23 and is one of Europe's most innovative and exciting modern dance troupes. Their combination of athleticism, superb technical skill and, most importantly, youthful enthusiasm was what won over the largely Chinese audience that caught their show at the PLA Theater last Friday night.

Beijing was the first stop in the troupe's first tour of China, and they performed three works during the two-hour performance. Sleepless (you can take a look at the video here), choreographed by Jirí Kylián, dramatically combined lighting, music and movement to create an unpredictable and hypnotic scene inhabited by a beautiful dancing shadow.

Dream Play, choreographed by Johan Inger, took audiences into a young man's fantasy about a captivating woman whom he fell in love with at first sight. Minus 16 actually began during the intermission, with a single male dancer dressed in a formal suit comically lumbering on to the stage in front of the still-drawn curtain, in fact it took everyone a while to realize that the show had started. This final piece, set to a compilation of cha-cha, mambo and traditional Israeli music, involved each of the dancers introducing themselves to the audience via body language while pre-recorded humorous statements about their individual life played in the background. The climax of the piece saw all the dancers suddenly rush into the crowd and drag members of the audience up on to the stage. It took a while for some of the more shy of the audience "volunteers" to relax, but the dancers did a good job of helping them to loosen up a bit. Finally, after all but one of the audience members had left the stage, a spotlight remained focused on the final volunteer who was left romantically swaying along with one of the lead dancers while other members of the troupe surrounded the couple. When the music suddenly stopped, all the dancers fell to the floor leaving the remaining audience member standing alone and confused.

Links and Sources
Nederlands Dans Theatre II Official Site
The New York Times: Dreams Interpreted by a Young Troupe
The Guardian: Nederlands Dans Theater 2
The Times: Nederlands Dans Theater 2