What Has Become of Scapino Ballet?
What has become of the Scapino Ballet of Rotterdam, a once beautiful company of dancers with tasteful choreography and elegant presentation that graced the stage of the Joyce Theater in their 1994 debut? To quote my review in Back Stage: "One need only to make a trip downtown to the Joyce to see fresh, thrilling, aggressively original ballet from the Scapino Ballet Rotterdam…” Oh my! What happened?
Whenever a baseball team goes awry it’s the manager who takes the brunt of the blame. Having seen the Scapino company under the direction of Nils Christie, the stark contrast with the company now directed by Ed Wubbe is as last place is to first place in a pennant race. This year’s performance was buried in the cellar.
Courtesy of Scapino Ballet Rotterdam
Indeed, there were a few good things. The dancers were strong, attractive and definitely good sports. The choreography was only minimally engaging, comprised of “seen before, done before” phrases, but because of the dancer’s high level of technical expertise, it had some merit. Seems a good idea to start a program and set up the audience by showing a group of bare-chested male dancers, and “The Green” set to Bach’s St John Passion, was just that. Interest piqued especially from a matinee crowd, and the dancers dressed in dark pants, some with shirts, some not, acquitted themselves against the voluptuous music that at times seemed to dwarf them. Ed Wubbe suspected that would happen, according to press notes, but he took on the challenge anyhow. There were the stunning muscular leaps, articulate gyrations, air turns, unexpected exits and entrances, and the dynamics of floor movement and space usage keeping a kinetic flow going. However, the piece did not leave one with the urge to clap with conviction.
Sandwiched between the all male opener and the all female counterpart was “Affi,” a solo choreographed by Marco Goecke for Tadayoshi Kokeguchi. With the songs of Johnny Cash to feed on, Kokeguchi highlighted the program with his concentrated performance. Perhaps the choreography danced by anyone else might have had a lesser effect, but in the hands of Kokeguchi it was stretched and squeezed into perfection. He deserved an award, if not for his extraordinary performance, than certainly for saving the evening.
Just when one wondered where the girls were, and hoping to see the linear designs made by the enviable long legs of the females of ’94, they rushed in, from the back of the stage to the front in one swoosh of long filmy dresses. Wubbe’s choreography for “De Bruiden,”had some gorgeous arabesque lines and featured one stocky female dancer with a crew cut who seemed one of few to know that dancing is more than steps. The choreography was overshadowed by fussy foot patterns, two feet moving sideways then returning, with too much repetition. With reflections of Jerome Robbins firmly in mind, did Wubbe even come close with his version of “Les Noces?” Often when choreographers strive to be original to definitive music associated with other and better choreographers, the effort falls flat. True, he has veered from Robbins’ male/female version, but too much jumping, hands fluttering, and some of the strangest jarring movements, interfered with the real focus. The women seem to be conversing, chatting about wedding preparations. Though the women dove into the aerobic phrases with brave energy, the piece was too long and became boring.
Now we have the closing piece, “Der Rest Ist Schweigen” (The Rest is Silence.) Wubbe has stated his mission as “…making dance on the cutting edge,” and possibly that is why Goecke, well known in Europe, was hired. I wonder if Goecke’s mission was to drive his viewers out of their minds. No need for the excessive length of this piece, other than pure torture. The stage was so dark that if a mouse ran across it would not be seen, nor would a mistake, nor would a dancer’s face especially the latter as most of the dancers performed with their backs to the audience. Sitting for so long watching nonsense and highly developed back muscles can severely test a balletomanes good nature, and many marched up the aisles to the nearest exit, probably to phone an eye doctor for an appointment. Perhaps the Joyce had electrical problems or maybe it was just the choreographers search for an original bent that produced the excessive eyestrain. After squinting to make out what was going on for at least half of the overly long piece…. I joined the ranks that left, a first for me.