BIOGRAPHIE COLLABORATEURS - Théâtre du Passage

KommersantFebruary 4, 2011Moscow, RussiaBy Tatyana KuznetsovaDancing supermen// Diana Vishneva in “Edouard Lock’s New Work”Ballet premierThe Canadian troop La La La Human Steps and its guest soloistDiana Vishneva have unveiled the new show of the troop’sfounder and director, Edouard Lock, entitled “Edouard Lock’s NewWork.” The new show is now on a two-year world tour that mayfind its way to Moscow. TATYANA KUZNETSOVA caught up with itin Bonn.Edouard Lock’s shock choregraphy can beseen in Diana Vishneva’s facePhoto : Sasha GoulaievThe fact that the classical Mariinsky Theatre prima ballerina is dancingas an equal with Lock’s artists is as improbable as if she suddenlydecided to become a Chinese acrobat. Because Lock himself, histechnique and his ballets are absolutely inscrutable and forbidding forany “classical” ballet purist. Although La La La Human Steps last yearcelebrated its 30 th anniversary, and although the choreographer’sunique style took shape 10 years ago, each of his ballets seems to be aleap into the unknown.Because it is impossible to imitate Lock’s technique, he has no imitators: his dancers move at a speed thatseems to defy what is humanly possible — like a movie of a conventional ballet turning at four times the normalspeed. Their legs move faster than the hands of a deaf-mute; their arms flitter about their bodies and faces,executing thousands of minute operations. Without for one instant leaving their toes, the ballerinas shimmer onpointe while performing frenetic tics. Male partners turn their ladies in both directions at the speed of a cavemanfuriously trying to start a fire. And the most surprising thing is, when you break down the elements of this entireavant-garde maelstrom, it is possible to pick out elements of a normal classical exercise, albeit one playing byits own rules — not expanding the amplitude of movement, but compressing it — as if all the energy of a 30-second pas had been condensed down into three seconds, like an electrical discharge. The relentless pace iswhat makes for the almost unbearable fascination with Lock’s choreography.One can only marvel at Diana Vishneva’s artistic selflessness in having the courage to leap into this hadroncollider. For she has no time to display her qualities as an actress or to show off her beautiful figure. She is noteven the central character in the ballet (in an 80-minute show, her entrance, pas de trois and duet take up nomore than about 20 minutes). The biggest praise for this world-famous ballerina may be the fact that, technically,she can hold her own to Lock’s improbable dancers and, solidly grounded in classical forms, allows thechoreographer to explore new aspects of the interaction between classical and avant-garde culture.