Introdans is one of two Dutch dance ensembles in a three-pillared dance company founded in 1971 by Hans Focking and Ton Wiggers. With the current artistic director being Roel Voorinholt, this unique group of expertly trained dancers travels through the Netherlands and abroad presenting “appealing shows performed by sublime dancers”. The company assures a modern ballet repertoire of Old Masters and Contemporary Partners and also invests in “new choreographic and dance talent”.
I nervously take my place in the sixth row, not knowing much about dance, but figuring that I may just be a voice for the “everyday man”. So I look for key terms in the programme notes which I actually understand, and there they are: “modern in tone” and “rich and accessible”. Let’s see if Introdans delivers on their promises.
The name of this performance, Superstars, can appear rather bland until you see that it does not refer only to the choreographers, but also to the composers of the music, the costumes and lighting design, and yes, the twelve dancers, of course. The performance pulls out all the stops while somehow remaining sophisticated and understated, and I am amazed at the carefully balanced variety presented within each of the five items. The first item, “Polish Pieces” (choreography by Hans van Manen), presents a colourful and intensely dramatic kaleidoscope of formations underlined by the angst of the music of Górecki. Here we see a highly energetic use of more traditional ballet. In “Evening Songs” (Ji?í Kylián) the innocently sexual undertones are paralleled by traditional folk costumes in a flowing and serene dance uniquely yet successfully blended with the counter-intuitively “un-rhythmic” choir work by Dvorák.
Whereas the first two pieces had a slightly more serious tone with a more traditional ballet style, the third item, “Pas de Danse” (Mats Ek), surprises the audience with light-hearted, humorous and more overtly sexual subject matter. Performed with gusto by four performers, with Aymeric Aude stealing the show with his pathos-ridden and hilarious yet technically impressive performance, this item is given life with the rhythmic pulsations of Swedish folk music and Benny Andersson.
The mixture of light-footed ballet and humorous tone is continued in the duet called “Anaphase” (Ohad Naharin), which borders on just downright dirty – a truly refreshing performance by Jurriën Schobben and Vivian Sauerbreij to the voluptuous samba music composed by Guem.
The tone and style of the performance are taken back to more serious and traditional, the ballet gracefully entangled with ritual dances of Mexican Indians, in “Sinfonia India” (Nacho Duato). Here the full dance ensemble brings the performance full circle, furiously driven by Chávez’s emotional music. The pace and technical prowess gradually increase to deliver a powerful and passionate finale, ending a performance which is short, yet diverse with mixed tones and truly varied styles. This manages to captivate me as a dance-dummy from beginning to end, and Introdans’s promise actually seems rather modest in retrospect.
Introdans played at the Baxter Main Theatre from 10 to 14 September 2013.