DANCE REVIEW
BETA COMPANY BUG Choreography: Dege Feder Suzanne Dellal, February 6
Choreographer Dege Feder keeps on searching for a way to synthesize her Ethiopian cultural roots with a measure of contemporary dance. Yet giving up the ethnic characteristics of Ethiopian dance makes it hard to maintain that subtle equilibrium between real indigenous quality within the realm of western contemporary dance.
Feder’s new production, BUG, is her first full evening creation, a real step forward and away from the former formula of her predecessors which presented an evening of various short pieces, a sort of enclosed capsules, like islets in a vast sea of options. The company is composed of six female dancers – half of them are of Ethiopian descent. That, and the fact that there are vast gaps between their training and professional experience, makes it almost impossible to expect to see a tight group with an established style. Yet, Feder managed to find a way to hide the weaker links and heighten their individual strength by developing a flexible structure that allows and contains solos that flow smoothly away from group sections and later dissolve and assimilate within new group formations, already in the move. Her ability to follow the numerous compositional changes, and back them by a very liberal musical collage ranging from Steve Reich to Inuit music and a delightful collection of world music, sealed the deal. This work also indicated an important progress in the way Feder managed to incorporate a richer movement vocabulary with humorous moments, and cleaned up the habit to work on the upper body and neglect the feet, and vice versa, a remnant of former years. It was quite rewarding to see further abstraction of elements without losing inner emotional turmoil, rare as it was. Following her progress in the last decade, one can believe that she can and should reach higher, and do even better, now that she released some inner constrains. Feder was a captivating performer since her training years, and her absence in BUG took its toll. That had turned an unquestionable focus towards the company’s charming dancer Chen Massil.
As expected, Feder went on stage at the end for the final bows, and within seconds ignited the stage and the theater, as she started to do her little ripe moves and expressions and swept all the dancers for a grand liberating and ecstatic finale.