Sacred Monsters with Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan was the most passionate performance involving two people I have ever seen. Funny, touching, tender, exciting, emotional are some of the words that leap to mind when describing their extraordinarily fluid union. It’s a story they have clearly worked on together for a long time and they both love the performance. Sylvie grinning from ear to ear at times, looking more like a six year old girl than someone the same age as me.
I would definitely get cramp in this position:-
I was in awe of her body. Her strength, agility and grace. It is astonishing to watch. Her limbs unravel like fronds from a fern as her story unfolds through the art of dance in a way that is so captivating you can’t take your eyes off her. That said, Akram Khan was equally mesmirising to watch. His style was a more cultural Krishna-esque style strongly supported by some very talented singers and musicians. They did a kind of East meets West/Girl meets Boy dance (although it was a lot more complex than that). The piece where his body is responding an ever increasing drum beat and the drummer talks back is more full of energy than anything I have seen in a long time. It just makes you want to go out and celebrate life itself (or more importantly find him and ask him out for a drink).
I would definitely break my back doing this one:-
It must be exhausting doing that every night – even if only for an hour. I heard that the next night had to be cancelled as Khan was injured which made our night even more special. I wondered if it might have had to be cancelled in order to make him some new trousers – not quite sure how he managed it but he split them towards the end of the dance, which I have to say, sitting at the front, made the last 20 minutes even more exciting.
I was watching carefully – not even a shake from the stomach muscles as she came back up and trust me they were in this position wafting around with Krishna-esque style arms for at least 5 minutes:-
What a privilege to have seen Sylvie dance one of her last dances before she retires next year. In fact, I hope to be able to go and see that show again – I bet it’s different every night – they chat away to each other like old mates, before beginning their dance of life. I will not presume that I understood the movements in the way that I understand words on a page – but I think I got most of the story, starting with Sylvie changed and shackled as a young girl dreaming of dance but wondering how to move away from the classical ballet and be herself. Ditto Khan. Truly wonderful. Contemporary dance at it’s finest.
This is the beginning of her farewell tour, starting in London. No doubt entirely sold out by now but you never know, perhaps I will get to see it again.
