For the fans of Depeche Mode and Răzvan Mazilu, Odeon Theatre produced a new performance: Depeche // Dance that is included in the programme Dance at Odeon, initiated ten years ago by the renown dancer. The choreography belongs to Massimo Gerardi, the one that produced Flashback, a performance about which the readers of Art Act Magazine found details, after its two representation in Bucharest, a few months ago.
The talent, the style and the fantasy of the choreographer, Massimo Gerardi, a professor at The University of Dance and Music from Köln, which can be easily detected in Flashback, remain as evident in the last production form Odeon. The artist envisages a universe that is filled with movement, and into which for an hour an a half there is no moment of pause, even when only one dancer is on the stage, or two, or three, or all nine dancers at once (Răzvan Mazilu, Laura Andrei, Bianca Patrichi, Judith State, Vanda Ștefănescu, Cristian Chiș, Mircea Ghinea, Levente Szasz, Florin Tănase). Far from Depeche Mode’s dark approach, the synthetic horizon that the electronic sound of one of the most successful bands of the last decades, would have claim “on a first reading”, Massimo Gerardi’s performance overflows with energy. Mixtures of bodies, figures, spins and jumps invade the Ondeon scene. One will not be able to find in Depeche // Dance a closed universe, psycho,or unsettled by some sporadic pulsations. In Nothing's Impossible, like in Flashback Mircea Ghinea and Levente Szasz’s dance captures the erotic infusion of the two reunited masculine energies, which sportily and energetically confront each other. There is no mention of trances, incursions in the subconscious, extensive spaces, unlimited explorations, oneiric associations or synthetic reversals that barely manage to clog in order to drift, as some that are totally into Depeche would expect; the dancers are young, provocative and they directly and insistently look at the audience.
A dark-glamorous touch is nevertheless present, in the costumes created by Răzvan Mazilu, who is very talented as it is confirmed all over again, because the choreographer isn’t at his first attempt of this kind. A mixture of leathers and black laces, his costumes are sexy, the provocative attires are very presentable and they confer individuality to the character, emphasising the entire world of Depeche // Dance. The elegance of the black next to the crazy costumes fit like a glove in the scenery imagined by the German scenographer Eveline Havertz: Four fixed pains that are coloured differently get closer together, are separated and moved in order to recreate the space for each of the 17th moments of the performance. Reunited they recreate the space for the video projections that recruit elements form Depeche Mode’s imagism. In addition, there isn’t too much, beside the handful of objects used by the dancers like in Personal Jesus, one carries a bowl, another one a telephone, another one a Jesus, and another one ….a gun.
The song dictates some of the performance’s striking images. The crucifixion implied by Răzvan Mazilu’s last gesture in the Macro scene, when he joins Laura Andrei and Bianca Patrichi behind the folding screen, dancing like in the theatre of shadows, becomes one of the leitmotivs and it outspreads a cyclic vapour. Towards the end, the crucifixion of the glamorous among the flowing spangles, the actor Mihai Smarandache signs the entrance into the synthetic sphere. Appearing out of the blue, in a fur coat with light bulbs, in the role of the vocalist from Depeche Mode, he will sing „World in My Eyes”. It is a brutal and a wild idea with which Mihai Smarandache overwhelms the audience. The actor’s presence among the dancers, an idea experimented by Massimo Gerardi in other productions as well, gives a new energy and touch of brightness. From this moment onward, the scenic universe is created around him.
Far from his well known ethereal grace, Răzvan Mazilu dances contre- employ. The star mixes very well with his colleagues on the stage, having the modesty of not being always in the foreground. Massimo Gerardi leads him towards a more cynical Depeche Mode style, which is more aggressive, more defying and more fragmented then the style we were accustomed to admire Răzvan Mazilu in. Besides, all the dancers are captivated by the energetic manner of the Italian choreographer, thus the performance has all the chances of relaxing and of firing up the enthusiasm of the audience.
