Modern Ballet Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant: Solo. Shift. Two. Push World famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera - established 1783
Schedule for Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant: Solo. Shift. Two. Push 2022
Orchestra: Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra
Solo Choreography
Russell Maliphant Lighting Design Michael
Hulls Music Carlos Montoya Sound Designer
Andy Cowton Costume Realisation Ha Van-Volika
Solo was commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London World
Premiere: Friday 30 September 2005 at Sadler’s Wells Music used by kind
permission of the Carlos Montoya Trust
Performed by Sylvie
Guillem Running Time: 8 minutes
Shift Choreography
Russell Maliphant Lighting Design Michael
Hulls Music Shirley Thompson Shift was
originally commissioned by Dance 4, Nottingham and DanceXchange, Birmingham
Performed by Russell Maliphant Running Time: 12
minutes
Two
Choreography Russell Maliphant
Lighting Design Michael Hulls Music
Andy Cowton Two was originally commissioned by the Dance
Umbrella Festival, London
Performed by Sylvie
Guillem Running Time: 10 minutes
Push Choreography
Russell Maliphant Lighting Design Michael
Hulls Music Andy Cowton Vocals Barbara
Gellhorn Costume Realisation Sasha Keir Push
was commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London World Premiere: Friday 30
September 2005 at Sadler’s Wells
Performed by Sylvie
Guillem and Russell Maliphant Running Time: 32
minutes
Running time 90 minutes The performance has one interval
PUSH is produced by Sadler's Wells in collaboration with Russell Maliphant
and Sylvie Guillem
Solo
Solo, was created for Sylvie Guillem in 2005.
It introduces the dancer bathed in a hypnotic pool of Michael Hulls‘s lighting.
What follows is eight minutes of choreography designed to showcase the
femininity and beauty of her classical technique. Performing to the Spanish
guitar music of Carlos Montoya, Guillem winds herself around the language,
brimming with undulating arms, beautiful, barefoot ballet feet and a
breathtaking sense of line. There are Spanish accents in the dance which grant
her the proud stance of the great flamenco artist, and sudden bursts of
incredible flexibility which remind the audience of Guillem‘s incomparable
technique. Solo is performed to the music of Carlos Montoya, by kind
permission of the Carlos Montoya Trust. The solo‘s Farruca and
Seguiriya are taken from the recording The Art of Montoya.
Shift
At first glance, this 1996 creation would seem to be a
solo. There is only one person on stage, the choreographer himself, yet it
quickly becomes obvious that he is not dancing alone. For Shift is a
virtual duet between Russell Maliphant the dancer and the ingenious lighting of
his long-time collaborator, Michael Hulls. The interplay turns an intimate dance
for one into a beguiling dialogue about perception and the nature of reality.
The sinewy, yoga-inspired choreography constantly shifts, but within its elastic
design lies a strong centre. Maliphant‘s feline grace and rigorous attention to
detail are showcased, but so too is his unique ability to create a spellbinding
world of reflection, helped by Shirley Thompson‘s melancholic string serenade.
Two
Two, a solo originally created for Dana Fouras
in 1997, is one of Maliphant‘s most dazzling and original creations. In 2003 he
reimagined it as a trio for three women (calling it Two Times Three)
but as a solo it has been given new life by Sylvie Guillem. She begins Two
trapped inside a tiny box of light. Repeating the same phrases with increasing
intensity, she compels us with the mesmerising allure of her arms, shoulders and
head. When the beat in Andy Cowton's sound score kicks in, the dance spins with
increased excitement, finally erupting like a whirling dervish, hands and feet
moving in a blur of light and movement. Michael Hulls's extraordinary
lighting turns Guillem's hands and feet into licks of fire, while Maliphant's
choreography engulfs her in its whirligig. The ballerina's body seems to
evaporate into the vortex.
Push This glamorous
duet for Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant caused a sensation when it was
premiered at Sadler‘s Wells in 2005. It came about at Guillem‘s instigation,
following the success of her collaboration with Maliphant on Broken Fall, a trio
he created for her, William Trevitt and Michael Nunn at the Royal Opera House.
Push brings into play all the qualities Maliphant‘s work is famous for
– its hypnotic beauty, its serene strength – while giving Guillem one of the
most extraordinary performing opportunities of her career. In Push, the
choreography rolls and cascades, the two dancers are captured by the intimacy of
their richly physical language. There is something haunting about their slow,
sensuous connection, almost as if Maliphant‘s choreography has been sculpted in
zero gravity. The contrast between his weighted earthbound movement and
Guillem‘s soaring ballerina lift gives added resonance to the lush, liquid
phrases. Maliphant‘s partners in the creation of Push are vital to the
work's overall success. Andy Cowton‘s score provides the choreography with an
almost palpable caress, while Michael Hulls‘s lighting casts the two dancers in
a stunning golden glow.
Debra Craine
Schedule for Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant: Solo. Shift. Two. Push 2022
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