Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Sydney Dance Company: Le Grand Tango

Sydney Symphony Orchestra with Sydney Dance Company: Le Grand Tango -
Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House, 17 March -

“Le Grand Tango” steps away from the traditional symphonic concert in a program where the orchestra is joined onstage by dancers performing works choreographed especially for the occasion. It is an innovative concept which on this viewing was largely successful. This first half of the program was not accompanied by dance so attention was focused solely on the musicians of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO). Although they are obviously not dancers, it was interesting to watch the musicians (especially the violinists) move with the music as they played. It really is a sort of dance - the way a musical instrument practised over so many years appears as a natural extension of the player’s body at the moment of performance.

With so many well known melodies, Bizet’s Carmen Suite is a great work to start with and the SSO played it with energy and verve. The following piece, Pablo de Sarasate’s Navarra, is a contrast in style and was highlighted by the intricate delicacy of a violin duet by Kirsten Williams and Marina Marsden while the third and final work of the program’s first half (Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes) was reminiscent of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. The stylistic differences between these three works were clear, but their shared Spanish and Latin American influences were what linked them together. This theme continued into the second half of "Le Grand Tango" with three works by Astor Piazzolla, and this time the dancers took centre stage.

Usually the SSO takes up every inch of the Concert Hall stage so in order to accommodate the dancers the stage had been extended out further into the auditorium in a T-shaped catwalk. There were eight dancers in total, two full company members of Sydney Dance Company and the remaining six listed as associate artists of Sydney Dance Company (all graduate students of SDC’s 2014 Pre-Professional Year training program).  All three choreographers have a current or former connection to SDC.  While I was initially disappointed that the SSO’s collaboration with Sydney Dance Company featured so few of their actual company dancers, all eight dancers maintained a high standard of performance so it wasn’t really an issue.

Cass Mortimer Eipper and Lucas Jervies both choreographed works that utilise six dancers in a predominantly contemporary dance style that references tango but does not adhere to it. As creative interpretations of Piazzolla’s music both have their individual merits. Mortimer Eipper’s movement in Le Grand Tango contrasts quite starkly with the accompanying music and has a darker feel than Jervies’ fluid, yet sculptural aesthetic in Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Dancers Olympia Kotopoulos, Daniel Russell and Zachary Lopez all stood out from the ensemble in their solo and duet work while Aleisa Jelbart’s costumes were simple but effective.

It’s good that a collaborative project like this gives creative opportunities to up and coming choreographers but it seemed as if the naming and marketing of this event had created the expectation among audience members that they were actually going to see some recognisably ‘tango’ style dance and neither of the above choreographer’s works really provided this. There was a palpable sense of excitement when the third and final work, a duet called Libertango choreographed by SDC’s artistic director Rafael Bonachela and danced by company members Janessa Dufty and Petros Treklis, displayed the fiery drama and speed of Latin dance.

- GERALDINE HIGGINSON