Thanks to an ongoing sensibilisation regarding the ageing dancing body, we have the chance to see more often mature dancers on stage. Berlin-based Dance On Ensemble has made its raison d’etre the creation of a dance repertory for professional dancers over 40, one of their latest commissions being by Greek choreographer Christos Papadopoulos. Long-awaited in Rome, especially after the success of Papadopoulos’ Larsen C (2021), Opus (2018) and Elvedon (2016), Mellowing is a well-crafted minimal choreography, set into an equally minimal music soundscape by Coti K, that nailed the audience during its Italian premiere at Romaeuropa festival.
The basic movement component is a pulsating and reserved vibration of the body, a rhythmic and sensual marching that allows the 11-member ensemble to interconnect through a shared movement language. A sophisticated and fluid choreographic system of non-physical contact generates an ensemble in pure synchronicity, yet with various spatial orientations, and constructs a liquid spatial transformation through silent communication and mutual listening. Mirrorings and other collective arrangements in distant proximity smoothly emerge from what resembles a modest invitation to dance together: a hesitating flirting, a penetrating magnetism and a suspended attraction that becomes fulfilled as the performers gradually accumulate on stage to form a unified collective. To this end, the repetitive kinetic motif, sporadically interrupted by emphatic micro-movements and sudden pauses, creates a mesmerising and hypnotic experience.
Dressed in neutral shades of grey, the performer’s diversity (even in light of the hearing aid, worn emphatically by one dancer during the playful prologue) becomes more clear when they all attempt to move in the same way. The shared kinetic code, precise and coordinated, receives personal nuances and is adapted to (and enriched by) the corporeal story of each one of these dancers. Homogeneity, as if in a military parade, is an unreachable goal. To come together in belonging while maintaining freedom, individuality and autonomy is not an easy task. Yet it is a necessary and timeless value towards which contemporary society strives – and the ensemble under the choreographic orchestration of Papadopoulos effortlessly reaches it.
