If you meet the devil at the crossroads, what will you say? According to some legends, the devil offers fame and fortune, in exchange for one’s immortal soul. The version I prefer, is the one in which art itself is at stake. According to legend, one arrives at the crossroads, preferably around midnight, hands the instrument – guitar, fiddle, or what you will, to the devil, who plays a tune and hands it back, now endowed with unearthly powers.
The legend endures, its attraction needs no explanation.
Musicians have it easy, all they have to do is temporarily relinquish their instrument, and the satanic source of their skill will reside there, in the guitar or violin. A dancer’s predicament is quite different, the instrument in question is the body, the devil – forever within.
Something about Eldad Ben Sasson’s Strange Attractor makes me think of the devil.
Understated, bold and utterly seductive, Strange Attractor is set to Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, and premiered at the Suzanne Dellal Centre in the context of Curtain Up, an annual showcase for independent choreographers. Ben Sasson performs in this work, which begins almost casually, as he walks on to the stage in black T shirt and jeans, to the muted sounds of the familiar, insistent rhythm.
The movement quotes the simplicity of everyday gestures in configurations that delicately subvert the moment. He walks forward one arm behind his back, the other comes forward, palm upwards; Mor Gur-Arie enters the stage from the opposite side and walks past him. The two perform a duet that flows with a soft, deliberate delicacy; yet there is something primal in this dance, as rise from the floor and are drawn back to it, walking bent low on all fours, with careful attention to the way a hand is placed on the floor, the way it lifts into the air. Drawn in by rhythm and repetition, mesmerized, lulled into reverie only to be surprised by a sudden acrobatic spin; the visual differences between the dancers contribute to the sense of underlying tension in the work.
Gur-Arie’s angularity juxtaposed with Ben Sasson’s curving motion creates a balance, one that is deliciously complicated by the entrance of a third dancer, Elad Livnat, who embodies a powerful elegance in his tall frame. Invisible lines flow in curves, then are crossed by other lines; movement and its impediment, forces that attract, repel and oppose one another. As the music swells and the plot thickens, alliances shift. Gur-Arie lays her hand on Livnat’s outstretched hand, in a seeming moment of grace or compassion, then he grabs her arm just below the shoulder, and her body veers away from him as he pulls her.
The dance becomes more intensely physical, with moments of beauty, tension and humor. Holding, pulling, pushing, climbing over one another, rolling and running – creating a compelling vision of the forces within, around and between the dancers. An irresistible force runs through it all, a deadly beauty, the kind that might tempt you to sell your soul.
Strange Attractor
Choreography: Eldad Ben Sasson; Dancers: Eldad Ben Sasson, Elad Livnat, Mor Gur-Arie; Music: Boléro by Maurice Ravel; Line Producer: Einav Bechar.
Performances: November 28th at 20:30; December 8th in the context of International Exposure in Dance, at 10:00. Both performances will take place at Suzanne Dellal, 5 Yehieli Street, Tel Aviv. Tickets are 60 NIS and may be ordered onlinewww.suzannedellal.org.il, or call: 03-5105656.
