This Is The Title, a stark solo piece from dancer and choreographer, Ima Iduozee, has the unenviable task of appearing right on the heels of the epic Varhung from Tjimur Dance Theatre – who are, admittedly, a really hard act to follow – and, at least in this reviewer’s opinion, comes out sadly lacking.
On a bare stage a dancer sits on the sidelines and contemplates the space, then gradually takes the floor and pivots and pirouettes for a rather pointless twenty minutes before retiring, it would seem, satisfied, to the sidelines once more.
There is no doubting Ima Iduozee’s talent as both a dancer and a choreographer, but he has given us very little to savour in this composition. This is the Title is essentially a ‘notebook’ piece that should have been kept for his own personal workshopping and not brought to stage and presented to an audience. “[It] represents my early choreographic handwriting,” he tells us in the programme notes. “The work was informed by a need to embark on a choreographic language of my own and question the norms and aesthetics set by our environment and the western dance tradition.”
All very well, but what we see here is, at best, a rehearsal, or, at worst, a choreographer’s first draft as he stands at the (virtual) barre and mirror and tries out moves and steps to a disjointed soundtrack. It is as though we, as an audience, have been given backstage passes to hang out in the practice room while the maestro fiddles with his turnout and repeats moves over and over again until he perfects them. The resultant piece is merely an insight into the performer’s private creative process.
This is a fairly short piece, and Iduozee moves beautifully and is a pleasure to watch, but, ultimately, there is no emotion or lyricism in this composition and this reviewer was left unsatisfied and cold.
Comments