On the edge of the Los Angeles Arts District, the home of Benjamin Millepied’s company has an exterior somewhere between unprepossessing and unnoticeable. But beyond the barbed wire and the scrappy black facade is a superb squad of a dozen young dancers who could never be overlooked. They bring presence, technique and abundant personality to this full-evening work, first seen here in a slightly different form last year. It’s just a shame that the performances, which sparkle like the sun on the ocean, are unfavourably bookended by grandiose sequences that jar with the night’s more playful and soulful spirit.
The dancers share their headquarters with a hip art gallery and their performance space is similarly minimal, with wooden beams, exposed brick walls, diffused lighting and a few rows of bleachers for the audience. The gallery’s current exhibition presents sections of broken vehicles studded with pink jewels so that they resemble enormous chunks of watermelon. But the opening tableaux of Millepied’s I Fall, I Flow, I Melt couldn’t be more at odds with the contemporary art world, as the dancers enter solemnly to recreate scenes of suffering and crucifixion by the old masters, with hands either palmed in prayer or covering their eyes, to the accompaniment of Bach’s St Matthew Passion. Bodies are carried, cared for and comforted until all 12 have finally fallen.
Bach is at the heart of the evening’s most successful sequences, with violinist Etienne Gara performing the Partita No 2 live, excelling at the rise and fall of its fiendish chaconne. Having first performed in a circle, ringed by wooden chairs, the group splits in two to sit at opposite ends of the room. Vertical bars of light against the far wall illuminate a series of solos that become pas de deux and then group pieces, as the dancers first watch each other – their expressions enigmatic – then find a flow together. Shu Kinouchi’s jetés radiate joy in a flurry of moves as springy as his mop of black curls and David Adrian Freeland Jr brings a formidable grace to each step. In a stunning sequence, phrases ripple in turn through the women’s bodies and, even though the dancers are already at close quarters, when they surge towards the front row the impact is thrilling.
After the interval there is more Bach and a composition by David Lang, with the dancers performing against a low wall of light. Rachelle Rafailedes, consistently compelling throughout the evening, is given a slightly disjointed solo without music, the only sound the squeak of her shoes, the slap of her hand on her leg and the thrum of traffic outside. In a standout solo, the bare-chested Anthony Lee Bryant practically melts his floorwork into the earth.
The dancers swap their black-and-white pleated streetwear for two-tone skirts and tunics, all designed by Alessandro Sartori for Zegna Couture, and come together for the climactic Passacaglia in C minor for organ. This is impressively choreographed, with individual paths carved through a dense pattern, but feels more than a tad portentous, especially after the loose succession of intimate duets and solos. It’s like being served a heavy meal after you’ve contentedly polished off the small plates.
At LA Dance Project, Los Angeles, until 29 February. Live-streamed at 8pm GMT on 26 February.
