No Gravity astounded audiences as it traveled through Dante's "Divine Comedy" on Friday night at The Egg. The best dancers defy gravity. But what happens when the pull that connects us to the earth disappears? We are carried aloft by the wind.
That is what seemingly happened with No Gravity, an Italian dance ensemble that made it first appearance on Friday at The Egg. The band of six drew a depiction of Dante’s journey through hell, purgatory and paradise that was astounding – mainly because the dancers look to tumble, kick and claw through the air for the 90-minutes of “From Hell to Paradise.” Choreographers Emiliano Pellisari and Mariana P tapped theatrical genius when they drew the audience’s eye to watch the mirror image of the dancers who were moving, fully supported by the black stage floor. Yet what the audience saw was a truly frightening descent into an inescapable black hole, lovers reaching out but never connecting to each other and the finally fallen angels who rained down from heaven. While at times, the 11-part dance felt a little overdone, No Gravity’s take on “The Divine Comedy” was hypnotic. Once one got passed the “how do they do that?,” one settled in for a parade of startling and stunning imagery that made reference to Wassily Kandinsky’s moving lines and circles and Maurits Cornelis Escher staircases to nowhere. This was accompanied by a soundscape that at times screechy and menacing, and other times, like a with a composition from Avro Part, the glorious – reflecting both the hell and the heaven that all – dancers and audience -- were traveling through. The work began at the Gates of Hell. Strips of red dancing light inflamed the stage and enveloped the single dancer who tried to climb out of the ring of the damned who encircled her. In the next scene, the convicted dancer appeared to be walking an angled tight rope, desperately trying not to slide down. But the balance beam continually shifted its position, making it impossible for those who are condemned to resist the inevitable. The success of No Gravity was that the audience was on the ride, rooting for the despairing who, as they said, made their bed. There was a hauntingly beautiful, but poignant scene, depicting Paolo and Francesca who stretch their arms toward each other, barely embrace before they fly away separately into the wind. And the section honoring Escher’s mind-blowing staircases, though cumbersome at first while the dancers try to gracefully assembly the steps, once again achieved the impossible – upside-down humans ascending an inverted flight of steps. Finally, the moment when the censored angels were expelled, was also gorgeous as the entire ensemble rotated through the air with fans that were useless parachutes. Bravi No Gravity. Please come again.
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Wendy
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