DANCE: SACRED MONSTERS
PREVIEW BY AMELIA GROOM
‘Sacred Monsters’ (Monstres Sacrés) was a term coined in 19th century France to refer to the glorified heroes of the art world. It was a time when contemporary stardom was taking root, and celebrity icons were given divine status by the public and the media. Of course, that sacred status could be monstrous when the artist was constantly living up to audience expectations for perfection and became limited in what they could explore and express.
Opening this week for three performances only at the Opera House’s Concert Hall, Sacred Monsters is a show that brings together two fiercely talented and innovative mega-stars from utterly different corners of the dance world, Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan. But rather than celebrating their fame and success, it is a performance that strips them bare of the façade of celebrity and draws from their vulnerabilities.
The reigning star of the Paris Opera Ballet and long-time principal guest artist at the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, Guillem is one of the world’s most celebrated ballerinas. Like her guiding mentor, Rudolf Nureyev, she has revolutionised the way classical dance is presented and interpreted.
Her hunger for new choreography has taken her all over the dance map, but never before has she been as far from her ballerina background as alongside Akram Khan, a British-Indian choreographer and dancer renowned for his groundbreaking work fusing Western contemporary styles with classical Indian kathak dance.
After a solo each the two ravishingly beautiful movers will join together to fight, play, take risks, merge into each other’s dance languages, and respond to each other with intimacy and sensuality. In between, they talk to the audience about their childhoods and lives, and give anecdotal stories that show their insecurities and vulnerabilities.
Despite their obvious physical and stylistic differences, Guillem and Khan have many experiences in common. Clearly disciplined and nurtured by classical traditions, both share a desire to experiment, renew their positions, and find a voice that is more personal than their training backgrounds might allow.
‘It is the dichotomy of the opposites,’ says Khan, ‘one place, which is the classical world, offers you tradition, history. It offers you discipline, something very sacred and spiritual, too. And the other place, the contemporary, offers you a science laboratory. It offers you your voice to be heard. It offers you numerous discoveries and possibilities … I am always moving, like a tennis ball, from one side to the other and my favourite moment is when I am just in the middle, just above the net.’
An extraordinary exchange and meeting of the minds and bodies of two great artists, that moment above the net is what Sacred Monsters is about, and it promises to be an evening of dazzling power, grace, beauty, and new possibilities.
Sacred Monsters
March 17, 18 and 19, 8pm
Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House
$55 – $125
Bookings: 9250 7777 or sydneyoperahouse.com
