AVAILABLE ONLINE Scored in a wash of electronica, Andonis Foniadakis’s technically impressive Palmos is a fantasy of close contact for the lockdown era Palmos is a ballet that comes drenched in its music– songs taken from albums by the American artist Active Child (Patrick Grossi), who has also written two new tracks for the show. It’s a soundwash of electronic shimmer, ultra-minimal R&B beats and Grossi’s ethereal falsetto vocals (he has a background as a choir boy). But it also comes with a dark chill, like a cold shiver sent across the stage. Greek choreographer Andonis Foniadakis chose to collaborate with Grossi on this new work Palmos – meaning “pulse” – created for Antwerp’s Opera Ballet Vlaanderen (there’s also additional music by Julien Tarride). The theme is connection, or our memories of connection, what we’re missing in this year of separation. Though in Palmos the dancers are all over each other for the most part, so it’s more like a fantasy of connection: accelerated, hungry and chimerical, fed by months of starvation. Foniadakis’s figures are never still, the music, lights and dance all flickering. There are ripples and spirals through the bodies, limbs like tendrils, torsos artfully squirming as if they were trying to touch every bit of air around them with each rib. Bourrées en pointe are a recurring motif; tiny repeated steps on the spot (or thereabouts), they give the feeling of action and nervous anticipation all in one. There’s a hard edge in some of the choreography for the women that’s common in contemporary ballet. It’s a knowing display: hips jut, chests forward, chin up, stylish angles and a lot of high kicks, almost weaponised. You could imagine Beyoncé doing it, long hair flicking, pointe shoes like the highest of heels. It’s all very alluring, and it fits with the avant-pop soundtrack, the black stage lit with single red or white fluorescent strips, and the high-cut, nude-backed leotards. Continue reading...
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