Soul Chain is an explosive Joyce debut for tanzmainz (photo by Andreas Etter/tanzmainz)
SOUL CHAIN
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at Nineteenth St.
January 24-28
212-691-9740
www.joyce.org
www.staatstheater-mainz.com
German-based tanzmainz makes its explosive Joyce debut with Sharon Eyal’s Soul Chain, fifty-five minutes of pure exhilaration and intensity, a thumping trance rave executed with a thrilling military-like precision. An international cast of seventeen fearless dancers first enters the empty stage on relevé, one, two, and three at a time, walking on tiptoes and the balls of their feet determinedly in Rebecca Hytting’s tight-fitting beige leotards, which run from shoulder to buttocks, most of the men bare-chested. Soon they are forming a hive or collective, part apian, part Borg, angulating their arms and legs with movements evoking insects; some collective members stand out by keeping an arm raised — or swiveling a head back and forth for a frightening amount of time — while the others dance in unison. (The brave company features Elisabeth Gareis, Daria Hlinkina, Cassandra Martin, Nora Monsecour, Amber Pansters, Maasa Sakano, Marija Slavec-Neeman, Milena Wiese, Zachary Chant, Paul Elie, Finn Lakeberg, Christian Leveque, Jaume Luque Parellada, Cornelius Mickel, Matti Tauru, Alberto Terribile, and Federico Longo.)
Alon Cohen’s stark lighting isolates individuals and cuts the stage in half, furthering the idea of a group and singular entities. Dancers occasionally break free and perform improvised solos that challenge the limits of physical possibility as Israeli composer and DJ Ori Lichtik’s original industrial techno score echoes through the theater, beating into your bones. Lichtik and Jerusalem-born choreographer Eyal of L-E-V, a former longtime Batsheva dancer and house choreographer, worked in conjunction with the dancers as the piece developed, establishing their own creative collective that ultimately links up with the audience. (To get in the mood, check out the accompanying Spotify playlist, consisting of forty songs that inspired the troupe.)
The night I went, the crowd didn’t want to leave at the end, joining together for three boisterous curtain calls, followed by an informative talkback with tanzmainz director Honne Dohrmann, dancers Monsecour and Longo, and Joyce marketing manager Nadia Halim, who shed more light on the process of making Soul Chain, emphasizing collaboration, protecting bodies, and Eyal’s goal of promoting passion and love and celebrating uniqueness amid longing and loneliness.