Passion on the banks of Gauja. Review of Agra Danilevich’s poetry and dance performance / Diena

2023-04-16 20:03:00

Love is a quantity independent of format and genre: it is as important in poem and song as it is in oratorio and opera. Also in wordless genres – symphony and ballet. When alongside the power of love is the power of talent, as seen and felt in the cam show Without telling. Spanish chamber music. Dance. The poetry and artistic message of Agra Danilevich is irresistible.

Also, talent does not live in one box here. Creative expressions cross borders, go beyond the shores. Choreographer and longtime dance group and school Mills manager Agris Danilevičs, who used to be in a dance musical Mauglis also dared to sing, in recent years he has started writing poetry. He also reads it himself in his new show. On the other hand, the main character of this show, the unusually versatile stage artist Aleksandra Špitsberga, who is studying choral conducting at the Jāzepa Vītola Latvian Academy of Music, not only sings, but also dances. In addition, he does it convincingly both solo and together with his stage partner Pauli Bārzdiņa, demonstrating not only a well-developed dance language, but also poetic, meaningful acrobatics. It is the multifaceted revelations of talent that make this show truly unique and inspiring. It cannot be put into any framework, besides, all elements of the production – dance, poetry, song, theatricality – are equal.

Keyword

At the very beginning – surprise and confusion. On the semi-dark House of Music Daile Vladimir Kudrins of the stage conjures up a dreamy nostalgic, sad interwoven mood with his guitar. It is from the cycle Elegy by Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torrobas (1891-1982) Spanish castles for guitar solo. Agris Danilevičs comes out, sits in the corner of the stage and reads poetry, singing Gauja. And then, after something, just for us, Latvians, so well-known, dear and distinctly national follows… Yes, unexpectedly several Spanish songs follow. Manuel de Falla’s five temperamental, internally versed songs from the cycle Seven Spanish folk songs in the voice of the main character of the evening, Aleksandra Spitzberga, throws the listener off the Gauja boatman’s boat with a jerk.

Where are we exactly? At the intersection of different worlds, where Spanish chamber music, dance and poetry of Agra Danilevich meet. Can such different worlds be connected at all? It turns out that it can, because the key word and the message are common – this is a story about love. Choreographer Agris Danilevičs and his creative associates – at the dance school Mills grown-up singer and dancer Aleksandra Špitzberga, dancer Paulis Bārzdiņš, guitarist Vladimirs Kudrins and pianist Kristīne Šmite – all the elements of the show are intertwined in one wreath, where love is intertwined with talent. In the course of the evening, singing is replaced by dancing, and a selection of twenty poems by Agra Danilevich serves as a binding agent. Along with the songs of Manuel de Falla and Federico García Lorca, there are compositions for guitar, piano and voice by Federico Moreno Torroba and Joaquin Rodrigo, as well as a piano suite by Isaac Albenis Spain performed by pianist Kristine Šmite. And, to your surprise, Spanish music and elements of Spanish dance (not even for a moment not representing Spanish dance in a pure, concrete way) do not conflict with the Latvian language that sounds in the poetry readings, nor with the invocation of Gauja in the opening poems of the show. The costumes created by Ines Gibeiko, which are not associated with a specific time or geographical space, also help to merge everything into one world of reflection.

Love – the leitmotif of the show’s message – is expressed here in the widest range of moods and content, it contains both impulsive revelations of feelings and the longing of lovers. Both playfulness and depth and real sorrow. Along with love, which in the spring is dizzying like the smell of flowers, also mother’s love and a declaration of love for her land.

What Aleksandra Spitzberga is able to do in the show, constantly changing the language of stage art and the characters she portrays, is truly admirable. To perform the complex tasks of dance and vocal art, both areas require a fine sense of style, dexterity, cultivated grace, endurance. The young artist has it all, and most importantly, her performance is natural, plastic, expressive and nuanced. It creates co-experience and makes you believe. Alexandra Spitzberg’s performance is unique, but does not make the audience feel like they are in a circus, wondering about human possibilities.

Size in small format

And here we have to go back to the beginning. Agris Daniļevičs is a choreographer who creates both Latvian stage dances and contemporary choreography. It is common knowledge that he particularly likes and is good at large-scale, dynamic large-scale performances and shows. His performances have received wide recognition Mauglis with the music of Mārtiņš Braun, I play, I dance with groups Ilgii music and The sun rose from the sword collective Auli accompanied. Agris Danilevičs was also a choreographer and movement director for opera performances, including Handel’s Alcina, Verdi Aida, Mozart Don Juan, Wagner Valkyrie, Siegfried and the Changing Table of the Gods. He once staged a play in a swimming pool (Little Mermaid2005).

This time, the choreographer surprises with a chamber performance, small format. Despite moments of heightened passionate emotionality in voice and movement, the performance of poetry, dance and Spanish chamber music is lyrical, introverted, poetic and appropriate to the poem’s leitmotif: “I want to dance,/ Without telling it,/ Because everything I feel,/ Must be danced.” It must be said that the choreographer’s direction towards a lyrical, intimate camera format did not fall out of the blue. It seems that the musical dance fantasy created together with colleague Kārli Bož was on the way to it The house of conspiracy (2018). On the other hand, the idea of ​​meeting dance and song was first tried last summer at a big concert of dance groups and choirs. The song dances. The dance sounds. Aleksandra Špitzberga and Paulis Bārzdiņš are the two young people who swung high in the sky on the swing of fate in this performance on the Great Stage of Mežapark. All that remained was to put them both on stage in a camera show, also using the voice of Alexandra Spitzberg.

It is planned that the show Without telling will return to the audience in September.

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