Delicate and eloquently silent

IT WAS an unusual programme for the Chennaiites. The contemporary dance performance of Susanne Linke and Reinhild Hoffman ``Uber Kreuz'' (Crosswise) presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, the Department of Culture, Government of India and the Max Mueller Bhavan was a long awaited one too.

Susanne Linke is familiar to the Chennai audience with her earlier performances and the collaborations she has done with our own contemporary choreographer, Chandralekha. She is considered one of the greatest of the contemporary dancers in Germany. She teamed up with Reinhild Hoffman, another German contemporary dance great to tour India with seven performances of Uber Kreuz. The Chennai performance, a very special one, got bogged down by various problems. The compere, P. C. Ramakrishna, shared with the audience, right in the beginning, the news that most of the equipment needed for the performance had not landed in Chennai in time and the video equipment that should have beamed various images on to the white screens or the stage, had broken down due to a power failure earlier in the day.

But these little technical problems did not matter at all. The two women showed what power there is in stage appearances and spoke through their work in silence. This concept of silence as a prop is new to India and there was some in the audience who talked, had brought a little child who cried and almost ran on to the stage and of course the impatient left. But for those who stayed and paid attention to the proceedings it was a momentous experience.

The stage was ripped bare and there were white screens put up all around and one in the middle of the stage. All grace and with their experience showing in their demeanour, the two women made their appearance in complete black. Every movement was touched with dignity and the power of silence. The two were of completely different in nature, one tall, tough with short black hair, the other, soft, delicate and with long blond hair that glistened in the light.

The title Crosswise suggests horizontal and vertical meeting points inside but allows each of the two characters to retain her individual identity. There were several kinds of crossings in different planes depicted by the two women. If Susanne Linke was all delicacy, Reinhild Hoffmann was all power with the dramatic entry she did with a mono antler for a prop. There were also several props with long pieces of boards and balls to define spaces.

There were three pieces lasting 75 minutes. The two together in black suits and then Reinhild taking the jacket off to reveal a workman's clothes, moved with intensity arranging the heavy black balls and the pieces of wood to create a space which served as an internal gravitational point. Then came Susanne in grey, with blond hair let loose and created a dance on the floor that spoke of control, pain and intense longing for freedom. Reinhild made her appearance with an antler giving a show of woman power. The two finally came together in a dance that showed the various influences in the developments of these two dancers.

This tour is momentous for the two dancers too. Since they first met at the Volkswang dance studio in Essen some 30 years ago, Susanne Linke and Reinhild Hoffmann have led German expressionist dance. Here for the first time, they have come to create their own duet with mature and controlled movements, peering into humanity's inner self.

It is 20 years since these two women of the German Ausdrucktanze have last been seen together on stage. They have had several meeting points over the years. Reinhild Hoffmann headed the Bremen dance company and had Susanne Linke as one of her successors. After having wielded considerable influence on the contemporary German dance scene, the two women felt it was time to create a joint programme bearing witness to their similar, if not common experiences and developments.

What they created was an effect of enormous dignity of dance. A power that spoke in loud silence, long stretches of lyrical motion with power encapsulated in it, exposing the internal workings of the action, the machinery and combustion, the engineering and the effort with a resolution of movement which was as important as its effect all done with dignified reserve. Music by Helmuth Lachermann and Salvatore Scirrino was as interesting as the dance. ``Did you see the way Susanne dropped her hand?'' asked choreographer Chandralekha with childlike delight later. ``It was like as if she was dropping gravity itself.'' Yes and a sensitivity and theatric flair for dramatic communication was marked in both Susanne Linke and Reinhild Hoffmann in totally different approaches yet meeting so very delicately and powerfully in effect.

V. R. DEVIKA

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