Programme 1: Dates: July 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 at 9.30 pm « Minus One » Choreographer: Ohad Naharin
Choreographer Assistants: Adi Salant and Aya Israeli
Lighting: Avi Yona Bueno
Costumes: Rakefet Levy
Assistant: Hadar Sobol
Music: (excerpts from) Mambo Fever, Cha Cha de Amor: (produced and compiled by Brad Benedict) Unknown Territory by Dick Dale, Hava Nagila Ehad Mi Yodea (arranged and played by The Tractor's Revenge) Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Arlen Harold (adapted by Marusha) Fratres by Arvo Pärt (By arrangement with Universal Editions Vienna, publisher) Etude No 3 for Marimba by Paul Smadbeck Greensleeves (arranged by Jeremy Barlow, conductor)
Created for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal
Premiere: May 30, 2002, Place des Arts, Montreal
Duration: 85 minutes
L'illusion de la beauté / et un mince fil qui sépare la folie de la raison / la panique derrière le rire / et la coexistence de la fatigue et de l'élégance (the illusion of beauty / and a fine line that separates madness from sanity / the panic behind the laughter / and the coexistence of fatigue and elegance)…these words open Ohad Naharin's Minus One, one of the most innovative pieces from the repertory of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal.
This complex and finely chiselled work owes its quality to the alchemy with which every element is suffused. Starting with excerpts from seven different pieces (Zachacha, Sabotage Baby, Black Milk, Passomezzo, Anaphaza, Queens of Golub et Mabul), Mr. Naharin has succeeded in creating a single work, unique and whole, that at no point feels like an arbitrary collage. Choreographic patchwork is a perilous exercise, but the choreographer has carried it off with flair. At the finale, he pays a magnificent tribute to dance and above all to dancers themselves, with the company's performers speaking in voice-over throughout the piece, telling their own stories and talking about their relationships with dance.
Set to a soundtrack that moves from traditional to popular songs, as well as baroque music, ethnic rhythms and original compositions, more than 25 dancers perform at a gripping speed-jumping, spinning-and then melt into movements that are slower, hypnotic, though still inspired, before coming full circle to explosive expressiveness. They are by turns joyful, meditative, comical and perfectly geometric, with a unique and audacious physical language that marries grace, agility and humour. Audiences will be left with compelling and unforgettable images that take shape in a charged ambience.
MINUS ONE GIVES LES GRANDS BALLETS' DANCERS A CHANCE TO DEMONSTRATE THE FULL DIVERSITY OF THEIR TALENTS. THIS WORK IS ONE OF THE COMPANY'S LARGEST WORLDWIDE SUCCESSES TO DATE.
