SONOMA • ØSTRE GASVÆRK
★★★★★☆
Photo: Tom McKenzie
REVIEW SONOMA: POWERFUL, LYRICAL AND VISUALLY GRAND
The hyped Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau brings down Østre Gasværk with his new dance performance SONOMA, in which nine female dancers in sublime staging treat the audience to a grandiose visual production boosted by Østre Gasværk’s enchanting interior as a co-star in a powerful and deeply original theatre experience.
A powerful ballet of physics, delicate geometries, screams, whispers and recitations of high-minded dogmas in what can be decoded as a portrait of mental load, mixed with snapshots of feminine strength and an almost Old Testament religious atmosphere.
Photo: Tom McKenzie
Sonoma is a surrealistic representation of femininity in a 360-degree portrait of inner feelings and outward force, frozen in a smouldering soundscape of electronica mixed with hints of Debussy and Wagner.
Photo: Tom McKenzie
Morau is known for his interpretive works that do not follow a plot from A to Z but establish emotional images in an interplay of body and sound in astonishing choreographies in kaleidoscopic patterns and symbol-laden stage images.
In a spectacular intro, the dancers glide into Gasværk’s wild stage as if riding one-wheel skateboards hidden under floor-length, folkloric dresses. An astonishing sight that opens Morau’s captivating performance in a lyrical/ethereal, almost elfin ambience.
The romanticism is soon dismantled by a violent, offensive expression, with the dancers transformed into witch-like warrior women in alternating tableaux of seemingly religious ecstasy, birth, death or contorted positions of love, pleasure, and pain.
Photo: Tom McKenzie
A visual extravaganza that only momentarily loses intensity before the performance closes with a thunderous percussion on large, shoulder-borne drums in a kind of funeral ceremony with giant flower-covered headdresses.
The young Spanish choreographer Marcos Morau (43), born in Valencia, deliberately aims for the opposite of tradition, ideal harmony and fluid movement. A take on ballet and fusion performing arts that has earned Morau several awards and made him a sought-after top name, both as an international freelancer and as the director of his dance/theatre company La Veronal.
Photo: Det Sku’ du Se
Morau has just been announced as the new resident choreographer at the Staatsballet Berlin, so we can’t wait to get down there and experience his upcoming performances.
Five stars from Got to see this to Sonoma and thank you for a powerful theatre experience.
SONOMA is presented by the cultural initiative København Danser, where Thomas Mieth and Ulrik Birkkjær do an exemplary job of bringing world-class dance performances, international star companies and the most renowned choreographers to the city.
You don’t need to be a dance expert to be overwhelmed, inspired and uplifted by performances such as Sonoma. But beware. It can quickly become addictive.
Read more about Copenhagen Dancers and upcoming performances here
