Step Lively

La La La Human Steps

by Janet Anderson

Paul Sirochman (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

La La La Human Steps is more than a dance company with a funny name.

The Montreal-based troupe landed at the Kimmel, performing Amjad, an unusual ballet that deconstructs Tchaikovsky classics Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. Amjad, an Arabic word that can mean male or female, pretty much sums up their concept: During the 95-minute, intermission-less show, men partnered with men and danced on pointe, relentlessly bending gender clichés.

The Perelman stage was transformed into a shadowy dreamscape, in which the women wore skimpy black leotards and men sported dark business suits or black slacks. They performed in total darkness, save for punctuations of white light that fell upon dancers and lit up periodically descending moonlike discs. Red light occasionally shimmered like oozing blood on the hanging discs (a spot of color or horror?). And tucked away in the stage's shadowy corners were four musicians — one pianist, two violinists and a cellist — all using amplified instruments. It took the audience awhile to even realize the music was live and onstage.

Everyone recognizes Tchaikovsky's music — if not from the theater, then from the elevator. Here those famous phrases, chords and themes were easy to identify, now transformed in a less orchestral and more propulsive, punked-up score. The musicians are the hippest imaginable: David Lang, founder of new-music festival Bang on a Can; minimalist Brit Gavin Bryars; and Blake Hargreaves, a Canadian electronic music composer.

Artistic director Edouard Lock's choreography incorporates recognizable steps from the original ballets into what otherwise is a fleet-footed, nonstop movement marathon. This is stripped-down, postmodern ballet, full of sharp angles and momentum: When swans — both female and male — weren't fluttering and flapping away, they leapt horizontally and fell flat on their sides.

La La La is a true ensemble, deserving of individual kudos. But emphasizing the collaborative nature of the troupe, the cast was listed alphabetically rather than by role. So Prince and Swan Queen, whoever you are, bravo.

(j_anderson@citypaper.net)

La La La Human Steps | Thu., Nov. 6, Kimmel Center