A Night of Dancing Where Erotic Meets Nuerotic
Coming to Paris to watch classically trained dancers perform on stage is a dream for almost every wannabe ballerina who grew up in pink tutus. I was/am "one of those people" who lost toenails and popped blisters for the opportunity to dance en pointe, on stage, in front of family and friends. I jumped (not literally) at the opportunity to watch the Ultima Vez performers dance with other classically trained dancers in the Wim Vandekeybus show, "Speak Low If You Speak Love" at La Villette. To be honest, I had never actually heard these names mentioned before, but the title of this show was intriguing and if there is ever a time to pretend to be more cultured than you are, it’s in Paris.
The phrase "speak low if you speak love" is a line from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing from Act 2, Scene 1, Page 5 (I spark-noted that). I expected the performance to be a combination of good dancing, contemporary music and loose Shakespeare references. Love, after all, was in the title and Belgian choreographer, Wim Vandekeybus, is quoted saying on the event website: "Love is a hidden force, it is in all the fissures, present everywhere, but we cannot easily escape it. That is why we must speak low."
Image Credit: Ultima Vez/Danny Willems
No amount of preparation in the dance studio or the classroom could quite prepare someone for this erotic, dramatic and hilarious experience. Collaborating with the musician, Mauro Pawlowski, classic stories were somewhat senselessly combined to the tune of experimental rock music and the voice of South African singer, Tutu Puoane. With the entire venue packed full of native Parisians and a few English-speaking college students, the show starts with possessed dancers crawling, slithering and gyrating on stage. This eerie scene is eventually replaced by an electric guitar and tug-of-war competition as the show transitions from a Lord of the Rings hallucination to a tap dancing sequence.
Image Credit: Ultima Vez/Danny Willems
Over the course of the 105 minute running time, the eight dancers proceeded to jump in and out of eye sight, each other's arms, and their clothes. Rather than following any identifiable plot, various love-associated themes were explored: abuse, hatred, obsession, lust, jealousy, temptation, flirtation and passion. Unlike your typical rom-com, these scenes followed no "predictable" order; there was no happy ending or tragic ending or "ending" at all. Instead, pain, confusion, and a fair share of nudity glued the audience's eyes to the stage and made for one undeniably entertaining show. The mesmerizing ability of the dancers to soar across the stage, climb up each other's bodies and flex so many booty muscles at once was amazing to watch.
Image Credit: Ultima Vez/Danny Willems
Unfortunately, this show has been on the move for many months and can no longer be seen in the city of love. It's next appearance will be in Belgium from June 2 to June 4 of this year. If you happen to be in Belgium at this time and would like to experience good dancing and intensely passionate love scenes, then this performance comes with a very high recommendation. But more noteworthy than this particular event was the experience of seeing something somewhat familiar in an absolutely foreign context. Even for the mere personal-growth aspect, I would highly advise doing the same: go out on a Wednesday, get mildly rained on, get slightly lost and (for better or for worse) experience something you won't be able to forget.
