- Turba - contemporary dance

Thursday, March 18 2010

Ideas in motion.

Maguy Marin has put together a magnificent fresco, a visual masterpiece that aims to use dance as a vehicle for abstract thought more than mere entertainment. Turba is in itself a massive project; the name means "multitude, a great population, confusion and tumult", and as a result the show is a majestic display of Baroque aesthetic.

The text is based on Lucretius' On the Nature of Things, a work that suggests Nature is an infinite concept by definition, ever exceeding the sum of its parts.

The poem is the basis for the performance; elements therein are transposed to physical motion, gesture and posture. The stage, divided into narrow corridors, features eleven performers. Flamboyant in their wigs and costumes, sporting elaborate make-up in an almost Shakespearean style, their dancing steps express what words cannot convey…

Choreography: Maguy Marin.