GET INTO THE (DIRTY) HAIRY
As a spectator, it seems as though Eyal is just as interested in the shapes a body can make collectively as to what the body reveals through repetitive movements both aggressive and meditative.
For decades, the Netherlands Dance Theatre (NDT) has been the premium purveyor of contemporary dance. Its latest co-production with choreographer Sharon Eyal and her company S-E-D, demonstrates why NDT continues to be at the top of its game. Both in the main company and its junior company, NDT is an impressive amalgamation of local and international dance artists who are impeccably trained and well-versed in different genres of dance and dance languages. Their 2024-25 season can attest to their adaptability, athleticism and talent. In other words, if there’s a style NDT is unfamiliar with, to the best of their abilities, they will attack it until their sumptuous bodies absorb it and it becomes second nature.
Eyal’s Into the Hairy has already been touring for a few years now, presented in the original version by her company of eight dancers. It’s fortunate then that a few of her dancers are former NDT artists, making this newer and larger production of a previous work even more daring and seductive. In addition, NDT is no stranger to Eyal’s work or dance lexicon. Much like her contemporaries like Crystal Pite, Hofesh Schecter, Alexander Ekman ( to name a few) Eyal’s work in the last decade has been a staple and part of the canon for most well-known Dance theatre companies globally. Her work has continued to evolve and grow, albeit within a codified framework of her own making: a kind of group dance and hive-mind made of disjointed bodily shapes that challenge the dance artist, bringing them to the brink of their mental and physical capabilities. As a spectator, it seems as though Eyal is just as interested in the shapes a body can make collectively as to what the body reveals through repetitive movements both aggressive and meditative.
Entering the world of Into the Hairy, is like being lured into a ritualistic dance made of sexy, intelligent beasts from a dystopian alien planet. The piece itself is an exercise in stamina. For forty-five minutes, the dancers never leave the stage, moving seamlessly through intricate patterns and complex dance sequences that periodically morph into shapes that resemble a personified Rorshach test. There’s a Lynchian quality to her work that I find alluring. Like the heavy eye shadow that streaks down the dancers’ faces, this is a piece of eery seduction and dark desire. I think what Eyal does quite successfully in most of her work is accessing an affect of creepiness, which I find both relevant and refreshing in today’s contemporary dance space. Her work, for me, reflects the dark and often macabre times we are in.
There is something aesthetically pleasing to her work. I enjoy how mesmeric the repetitious movement is even when it’s a challenge for the eyes to feast on. I was introduced to Eyal through the dance film of her work Soul Chain as performed by Tanz Mainz, and that piece continues to be one of my favourites, especially for the peek into the dance process and what the dancers are thinking through personal interviews. But Into the Hairy certainly is up there for one of my favourite Eyal pieces. It would not surprise me if some find Eyal’s work polarizing. But I think most would agree that that’s a sign of an Artist (with a capital “A”) who is authentically pushing boundaries.
Check out NDT’s performance of Into the Hairy on June 7th in Den Haag, where a few dancers will be present for an after-show talk, followed by a night of dancing at NDT Club.