The Season's Canon Duets - Review

The Season's Canon Duets Review

Canon Duet

The stage is bare.  Flickering, copper light - reminiscent of an evening sunset - is the only feature on the stage as 2 androgynous figures, wearing khaki green trousers, emerge from opposite sides of the wings. As they stride towards each other there is no pause in their movement as they immediately grab each other’s heads and intertwine.  The circular movements and over-the-shoulder lifts – characteristic of Pite’s choreography in Flight Pattern – show an even greater level of fluidity with the dancers almost melting into each other’s movements – a true connection, with almost animal-like senses.  The characters are in perfect unity and at 0.19 we see one dive beneath the other’s arms almost as if being pulled from underwater, to be circled overhead in a rigid foetal position – ready for birth … or is she playing dead?  Has this become a fight?

The two lower themselves to the ground as the music moves lightly down the scale.  They maintain connection throughout with their bodies elongated in a series of overlapping movements – both supporting each other, making it difficult to distinguish one from another.  Just as he appears to move into a gentle movement of cradling her head in his hand, he appears to push it aside brusquely – this is no love story, but is full of energy and connectivity, representing the power of life and the fight for survival as the seasons progress.

As the dancers finally lose contact at 1.00, he strides forward as she runs backwards into a cowering move before being lifted slowly and once again circled aloft, limbs outstretched as if in submission before being placed gently on the ground and circled – this time with his hands around her neck.  These slow and gentle movements have sinister undertones.  

Indeed, as the tempo abruptly changes at 1.19 a fight appears to break out.  The two mirror each other’s movements.  Is this a battle between predator and prey? As they move to 1.46 it almost appears as a staged swordfight with counter thrusts and parries.  The dancers separate now, moving in unison with strong movements up and down, and the music gains in speed and power and the second couple run on.  With equal fluidity but even greater power, their dance perhaps lacks the intimacy of the first couple.  It is strong, is packed with contrasts of height and length; they appear playful and energised, as if experimenting with their physical prowess.  They are quickly replaced by a third couple whose duet is accompanied by the tremulous melody of a violin which focuses the audience on the battle between the two of them and the almost cat-like movements as they mirror each other.  She is then circled, scrambling for footing, before being kicked to the side. Once again they join together, circling, lifting.  At 3.09 with her head in his hands she is pulled backwards as if losing power.  She makes a valiant effort to get away, but the fight continues and she is seemingly overpowered.  The final couple run on, again circling, mirroring moves, lifting with outstretched limbs but with an even greater degree of energy and movement across the stage.  It gives a great sense of power and freedom but ends abruptly as she runs and jumps into his arms out of the spotlight.

Like Flight Pattern, the piece combines dance with a powerful sense of drama. Whereas the previous duet was a depiction of suffering, Canon has a very different dynamic.  There is a freedom and energy about it, as if the dancers are responding to the greater force of nature.  Even though many of the movements are similar: the circular lifts, the intertwining limbs, the outstretched turns, in Canon their bodies are open and alive; they are not cowed down by sorrow.  Both combine movements which suggest contrast: powerful yet fragile; vulnerable yet strong.  As a viewer, my overwhelming feeling was that there is true connection between the dancers, yet conflict between them. 

Canon received rave reviews when it was first performed, receiving a standing ovation. The duets, as in Flight Pattern, appear in contrast to the large-scale patterning and formations of the movement blocks, which I now feel compelled to see in order to fully understand the pieces.  The whole purpose of a ‘canon’ is to see bodies moving in unison, which suggests that Crystal Pite created the piece from the audience’s perspective, for visual impact.  Within the context of the whole, the duets perhaps show the individual battles being played out alongside the greater force of nature.