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The great sacrifice of modern human

Review by dance critic Margareta Sörenson, Danstidningen.

The Rite of Spring to Stravinsky's music is one of modern dance's dearest companions. It caused a scandal in 1913 and thus became legendary. During the 20th century, the line of choreographers who wanted to make their own interpretation of this strange piece was long: Maurice Béjart, Mats Ek, Pina Bausch. And it didn’t stop there. Norrdans' Artistic Director Martin Forsberg has choreographed a modern rite to the original score by Stravinsky, music which remains modern to this day. 

Only three dancers, completely outnumbered by objects related to car maintenance: gloves, polishing tools, hoses, brushes, buckets, traffic cones and a large plastic sheet that can be spread out or folded away. Colorful, plastic and moved from one place to another, they form the frame and the scenography for a rite, a sacrifice that the modern man is so busy with: the things are the contents of a life. The role that these particular objects have in the polishing and maintenance of cars can be further understood to show us that the purpose of this rite is for the worship of a specific deity: the car, the symbol of the energy-consuming modern society.

The three dancers, Yeji Lim, Elias Kraft and Alberte Buch Gøbel, have been given powerful choreography with big movements and strong, dynamic fluctuation. Wonderfully and joyfully, they mix more classic twists and jumps with contemporary movements from everyday life. Tape and plastic cords are meticulously wound, brushes and swabs are carefully placed. Here, none of the three are sacrificed. Instead they submit, together, to the order of things, perhaps while trying to tear themselves away from its expectations.

Martin Forsberg's Rite of Spring is on tour and is performed in black-box theatres, I saw its guest appearance at Unga Klara in Stockholm. The audience sits close, yet the dance floor is spacious and is from time to time almost completely cleared to give the dance and the dancers room to move. At the same time Cave, another Norrdans production, this time by the American choreographer Rena Butler is out on tour with a completely different style, temperature and meaning. Once again, Norrdans proves how a smaller company can find its own profile and hone its skills into striking sharpness. Their Rite of Spring is a really uplifting dance party in a large format, despite its small size.

Click here to find the original review in Swedish.