Voces, Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival, Friday October 21st 2016.
"Voces" by Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras played at the Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne on Friday October 21st 2016.
For those new to my blog I write about the holistic experience of attending the theatre. I buy my own tickets. So if you want a re-telling of the story please refer to the links for further information or for further insights. Note, that I may provide different links for repeated main words or phrases. I write for my memories of what I have seen, and is more of a stream of consciousness.
The performance started ten minutes late and was advertised as one hour and forty minutes. Well it went for nearly two hours. A bit too long.
"Voces" was choreographed for the Ballet Flamenco by Sara Baras. Yes Spanish flamenco is proud, statuesque and poised. Flamenco can also show other emotions of despair, love and longing. But Spanish dancing is always arrogant, confident and self-assured. It is showing off and demonstrative. Sara Baras and her dancers accomplished this effortlessly.
Sara Baras walked out to warm her hands on a lamp like the "fire and ease" exercise from Michael Chekhov. She warmed her hands not from the cold but for the fire and intensity that was to devour her performance.
Six screen panels were positioned upstage with a spaces between each screen. There was a white picture of a dancer in a Spanish pose, or a musician or singer on each screen. As the show progressed one of the screens would be lit up and become the central focus during the performance. Later these six screens would be turned around to reveal blank white screens for shadows to cast upon.
Choreographically "Voces" was too repetitive for the first hour. This section could have been cut down. Many in the audience jumped to their feet, and I too thought it was the end of the show. It was a long three to five minute ovation and Sara Baras was deeply moved and held her heart in deep gratitude. The man next to me looked at his watch knowing it was not the end. I thought the same, though I was hoping for more variety.
"Solea" was performed and choreographed by Jose Serrano. He is a proud, statuesque and masculine dancer. He dances with precision and consideration. His port de bras are not the Hollywood concert variety but pure classical Spanish arm movements. He sliced the air with his broad port de bras.
Sara Baras performed a solo upstage and her shadow was cast upon the two central white screens. The lighting changed and as she moved downstage her shadow was cast on the next two screens making a total of four screens. Finally further downstage her shadow was cast on all six white screens.
During the finale or encore, Sara Baras performed a series of heel rolls skidding across from stage left to stage right. This was the equivalent of an extended pas de bourrees en diagonale in classical ballet pointe work.
The heel beats and complicated footwork appears as if nothing is happening. Have a go yourself: try and do a double heel right followed by a double heel left slowly. Then repeat this sequence getting faster. Now try it for two hours. Not as simple as some people think. The timing and accuracy of all dancers was sublime. The pure quality of the footwork was sublime.
There was a variety of costumes. The men needed a longer tail in some routines as their shirts were falling out and compromised their strength by making them look like unkempt teenagers.. Oh for them to have Bridie's (Bob Murphy costumes) trick of creating a shirt with long tail or gusset that was held like a leotard with velcro.
The Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne was a great venue until the couple in the front row kept holding up their phones to take photos. Our view of the stage was completely blocked at times due to their selfishness. Sadly no ushers came to tell them to stop as it would have been distracting for the requisite concentration of the dancers and musicians.
What a shame Sara Baras did not stomp her foot and say "Basta" or "stop taking photos or leave" in Spanish. This would have upped the ante of her indulgence and probably received even more well deserved ovations.
I, nor our friends in the row behind appreciated the iPHONE placed at the centre during the finale to film the show and audience from upstage centre. Other audience members felt the same thing and this upstaged the dancing and audience members looked at each other in dismay.
By the way there was not a castanet in sight. At least one castanet sequence should have been included in the programme.
Some people were disappointed that there were no surtitles for translating the singer or voice overs. I agree as this distanced some of the non-Spanish speaking patrons.
More variety was needed in the choreography.
Ushers did not attend to the distracting photographers on mobile phones in the front row stalls. The two selfish people in the front row raised their phones high and completely blocked our view of the dancers' feet. W did have a very clear image of their mobile phone screen though.
I gave "Voces" an 8/10. It would have received a higher score with more variety in the choreography and no front row cameras blocking our view.
Sara Baras walked out to warm her hands on a lamp like the "fire and ease" exercise from Michael Chekhov. She warmed her hands not from the cold but for the fire and intensity that was to devour her performance.
Six screen panels were positioned upstage with a spaces between each screen. There was a white picture of a dancer in a Spanish pose, or a musician or singer on each screen. As the show progressed one of the screens would be lit up and become the central focus during the performance. Later these six screens would be turned around to reveal blank white screens for shadows to cast upon.
Choreographically "Voces" was too repetitive for the first hour. This section could have been cut down. Many in the audience jumped to their feet, and I too thought it was the end of the show. It was a long three to five minute ovation and Sara Baras was deeply moved and held her heart in deep gratitude. The man next to me looked at his watch knowing it was not the end. I thought the same, though I was hoping for more variety.
"Solea" was performed and choreographed by Jose Serrano. He is a proud, statuesque and masculine dancer. He dances with precision and consideration. His port de bras are not the Hollywood concert variety but pure classical Spanish arm movements. He sliced the air with his broad port de bras.
Sara Baras performed a solo upstage and her shadow was cast upon the two central white screens. The lighting changed and as she moved downstage her shadow was cast on the next two screens making a total of four screens. Finally further downstage her shadow was cast on all six white screens.
During the finale or encore, Sara Baras performed a series of heel rolls skidding across from stage left to stage right. This was the equivalent of an extended pas de bourrees en diagonale in classical ballet pointe work.
The heel beats and complicated footwork appears as if nothing is happening. Have a go yourself: try and do a double heel right followed by a double heel left slowly. Then repeat this sequence getting faster. Now try it for two hours. Not as simple as some people think. The timing and accuracy of all dancers was sublime. The pure quality of the footwork was sublime.
There was a variety of costumes. The men needed a longer tail in some routines as their shirts were falling out and compromised their strength by making them look like unkempt teenagers.. Oh for them to have Bridie's (Bob Murphy costumes) trick of creating a shirt with long tail or gusset that was held like a leotard with velcro.
The Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne was a great venue until the couple in the front row kept holding up their phones to take photos. Our view of the stage was completely blocked at times due to their selfishness. Sadly no ushers came to tell them to stop as it would have been distracting for the requisite concentration of the dancers and musicians.
What a shame Sara Baras did not stomp her foot and say "Basta" or "stop taking photos or leave" in Spanish. This would have upped the ante of her indulgence and probably received even more well deserved ovations.
I, nor our friends in the row behind appreciated the iPHONE placed at the centre during the finale to film the show and audience from upstage centre. Other audience members felt the same thing and this upstaged the dancing and audience members looked at each other in dismay.
By the way there was not a castanet in sight. At least one castanet sequence should have been included in the programme.
Some people were disappointed that there were no surtitles for translating the singer or voice overs. I agree as this distanced some of the non-Spanish speaking patrons.
More variety was needed in the choreography.
Ushers did not attend to the distracting photographers on mobile phones in the front row stalls. The two selfish people in the front row raised their phones high and completely blocked our view of the dancers' feet. W did have a very clear image of their mobile phone screen though.
I gave "Voces" an 8/10. It would have received a higher score with more variety in the choreography and no front row cameras blocking our view.
No comments:
Post a Comment