Sylvie Guillem In Russell Maliphant's PUSH
The chance to watch two world-class dancers at their peaks was reason enough to see Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant in PUSH at New York City Center in October, but the evening delivered some surprises as well.
The program, on an international tour produced by Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, is a two-person show consisting of four works choreographed by Maliphant. Guillem and Maliphant, both in their 40s, carry off this tour de force with smooth athleticism and seemingly inexhaustible stamina.
Solo, created for Guillem, begins the program by delivering the “money steps” for which she is known. It shows off her famously high extension and extravagantly arched feet, and nods to her classical background by including flicked arabesques and easy pirouettes. Set to Carlos Montoya’s Spanish guitar, Solo satisfies the audience’s expectations so the evening can continue with more adventurous material.
Shift, a 1996 solo for Maliphant, seems like a group piece because of the larger-than-life shadows of him dancing that lighting designer Michael Hulls throws against the backdrop.
In Two, another solo for Guillem, Hulls’s lighting is again crucial. For the entire dance she appears trapped in a small box of light, her face obscured and our focus drawn to individual parts of her extraordinarily defined body. The effect renders her more creature-like than human. The music by Andy Cowton and the choreography use repetition to build tension that is finally expressed as a whir of feet and hands within the walls of light.
The highlight of the evening is PUSH, also with music by Cowton and lighting by Hulls. In this duet, Maliphant partners Guillem through a repeating series of statuesque shoulder-sit lifts and inverted, twining descents. Once again repetition is used to good effect, as Guillem descends Maliphant’s body like a falling angel, only to reappear after a blackout restored to her lofty perch. Later sections pick up the tempo and bring the couple down to earth.
These earthbound sections create the impression of a tense conversation. The voluptuous, intricate spirals of Maliphant’s choreography balance the steely quality of Guillem’s dancing. When Maliphant restores the original shoulder-lift image, but adds a dramatic reach upward for Guillem, he seems to have opted for an atypically clichéd ending. But then her reach dissolves and he melts out from underneath her as the lights fade. A collective sigh in the audience attested to the poetry of that last image.
Guillem is doing more than dabbling in contemporary dance, as many other classical dancers have done late in their careers. She genuinely has added new skills and range to her already impressive technique. Maliphant’s choreography is the perfect showcase for this new stage of her career.
Former dancer Leda Meredith is rehearsal director of Dances Patrelle, teaches at Adelphi University, and choreographs both ballet and modern dance.
