Amaya Simon dances on pointe. Not spectacular, but confident in her movements, she gently nestles into the duets with Noah Franck and Johannes Nolden to sparkling Chopin piano runs. In terms of content, of So-Yeon Kim-von der Beck's White Swallow is about a father figure whom the protagonist rediscovers in her lover, but fundamentally the piece is exclusively about dancing in pointe shoes. White Swallow is the literal translation of the Korean female name Soyeon, and it's clear that the choreographer is bringing her personal aesthetic vision to the stage: a dancer classically trained in Korea who wants to experience modernism in Europe, yet repeatedly returns to the pointe shoe as her preferred working material. White Swallow is the centerpiece of the triple bill Vibe(s)-Lich(t) (pronounced like the German "weib-lich") at the Oldenburg State Theater. And even though the choreography expands into contemporary elements as the performance progresses, with the euphony of Chopin giving way to the scratchy arrangements of Ólafur Arnalds, it's clear that Kim-von der Beck's primary role this evening is that of a traditionalist.
Reviews
Oldenburg
Alice Topp, So-Yeon Kim-von der Beck, Lilit Hakobyan Vibe(s)-Lich(t)
Especially since the other contributions are much more contemporary. To begin with, Alice Topp's Soft Knocks depicts gender relations as a boxing match — entertaining, athletic, perhaps a little too catchy for the work to actually stick in one's memory. At least Topp devalues the accusation that it unwaveringly represents a binary gender model by occasionally sending two male-identified dancers, Seu Kim and Fran Kovačić, into the ring. The final piece is Lilit Hakobyan's Out of Love, a harsh political choreography influenced by the 2018 anti-government protests in the choreographer's Armenian homeland. Artistically, Hakobyan has learned much from Marco Goecke's precisely measured movement language, but expands it towards street dance and combat choreography, which, in combination with Samuel van der Veer's electronic sound design, creates an impressive (if very martial) image of dance solidarity.
New artistic director Georg Heckel took over the State Theater last fall, but the dance department remains committed to the neoclassical style of ballet director Antoine Jully. However, Jully covers a wide range in his own work, a strategy that Vibe(s)-Lich(t) also pursues. It is certainly remarkable how confidently the small Oldenburg ensemble masters even radical stylistic shifts within a single evening.
Again on 17, 26, 30 April, 16 May; www.staatstheater.de
