Review: Lyon Opera Ballet – Trois Grandes Fugues

The final movement of Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue was one of his most controversial and aurally demanding.

In Trois Grandes Fugues, three choreographers, Maguy Marin, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Lucinda Childs, present three dynamic arrangements for the Lyon Opera Ballet Company. 

Childs’ arrangement is classically beautiful. The sweeping arabesques and déboulés are unusual for a choreographer who is generally considered avant garde. Yet, Drillot’s minimalist lighting and achromatic costuming doesn't always highlight the grace in Childs’ choreographic phrases. The dancers, while obviously talented, lacked some technical brilliance and strength with foundational balletic movements. 

De Keersmaeker’s Die Gross Fugue, the second installation, is predominantly contemporary. But also features elements of jazz ballet and athleticism. It asks the audience: Must woman become man to succeed? The piece ebbs and flows between speedy exuberance and retreat. The weightless falls are what make this piece – as does dancer Kristina Bentz.

Marin’s final installation for four female dancers is minimal, unrelenting and the most experimental of the three. 

Though the chaos of Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue is difficult to balance Marin, De Keersmaeker and Childs answer it in complementary ways. 

Lyon Opera Ballet: Trois Grandes Fugues played at the Festival Theatre, Adelaide. Run ended