DANCE REVIEW
DRESDEN FRANKFURT DANCE COMPANY Choreographer: Jacopo Godani. TAPAC, October 13
Choreographer Jacopo Godani, artistic director of the Dresden Frankfurt Company, was nominated for the position only two years ago, but his ties with the company started in the early nineties, when he joined the Frankfurt Ballet as a dancer.
The company at that time was directed by one of the most brilliant choreographers of the past five decades, William Forsyth, who elevated contemporary dance by deconstructing prevailing conventions that challenged and dazzled the dance world.
Godani, who danced with the company at the peak of its soaring reputation, understood the intricacy of Forsyth’s new creative messages. With his rich experience he could appreciate it, absorbing all small details.
On its current tour, the Dresden Frankfurt Company, under new management and a new name, opened the program with Godani’s ‘Metamorphers’ set to Bela Bartok’s String Quartet No. 4 played live by the fine Ensemble Modern.
Godani illuminates the music in terms of rhythms and a stormy ambiance, accentuated by the heavy use of dissonance, which endows it with a spiced edge. Forsyth’s spirit loomed heavily over this creation in particular, but was also evident in the other two creations by Godani which followed.
The works “Echoes from a Restless Soul” – set to Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit” – and “Moto Perpetuo” – with music by 48NORD – seem to show more of Godani’s work possessing more ease and freedom, enabling him to expand and explore the dancers’ vocabulary. His last piece in particular is less studious, and leaves some room for expressive touches.
With all his finesse, Godani maintains conservative proportions, whose repertoire is on the more studious, abstract side of mainstream dance. Hopefully next time we’ll see some more daring choices.