From the moment the curtains opened at the National Arts Centre (NAC) and the first dancer was lowered—yes, lowered—onto the stage from above, the audience was hooked.
Contemporary company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago brought Alejandro Cerrudo’s performance of One Thousand Pieces to the NAC stage with a sense of raw emotion and impeccable technique.
Resident choreographer Cerrudo created the piece last year in honour of the company’s 35th anniversary, using Marc Chagell’s “America Windows,” an artwork of midnight blue stained glass made to commemorate the 1976 American Bicentennial, as inspiration.
The goal was to produce “an evening inspired by those windows and then the light that they transmit and the emotions, the mystery of it, the magic of it,” Cerrudo said in a company video.
The piece was set to the score of Philip Glass, which was the perfect combination of both rich musicality and repetitious chords. The gradual build up of deep crescendos and fluctuation of sound additionally established the mood and intensified the production to an elevated degree, effectively punctuating the movement of each dancer’s step.
But while music flowed easily from scene to scene, it was at times cut off between set changes, making for a momentarily uncomfortable pause that seemed to jolt the audience back into reality and away from the surrealism of the performance.
Alternatively, the lighting was manipulated to create a strikingly intimate atmosphere, cast to contrast upon the skin of the dancers and expose a distinctive, dynamic look.
However, setting and costume design were relatively modest. The men’s attire consisted of all black and the women’s leotards featured black lace layered over slight hints of teal and burgundy, imitating the effects of stained glass.
The backdrop was, for the most part, completely black save for sets of rectangular reflecting panels which were at times distracting, rotating and glinting unpleasantly into the gaze of the audience.
But a standout scene of artistic design featured a set of three flowing waterfalls with water droplets drizzling onto the ground before them. Using the element as a tool for further creativity, dancers slid across the floor, fiercely kicking up sparks of spray with no trace of hesitation.
The fluidity of the dancers’ movements was mesmerizing, and while extremely athletic and physically demanding, conveyed an illusion of simplicity and ease. Disciplined, and with immense power and endurance, dancers leapt, ran, and spun across the stage in perfect synchronization.
And while the performance focused on the company’s repertoire of modern ballet, classical interludes were seamlessly imbedded into it.
Cerrudo’s creation ultimately made for an unusually haunting and all-consuming beauty of a masterpiece. Unsettling but compelling, the piece left relics of an underlying message, laid open for public interpretation.
“It’s more than just dancing,” dancer Alice Klock said in a company video. “It’s also a visual experience, sort of beyond that.”
The performance was nothing short of breathtaking, and at the close of the evening the show was met with an immediate standing ovation.
And while the NAC may be prone to giving standing ovations, this performance was definitely more than deserving of one.
