Noa Genazzano 2023 at Blue Elephant | Evaluate

Phrases by Katie Hagan. Carried out at Blue Elephant Theatre 4-5 November.

Noa Genazzano’s 2023 carried out at Blue Elephant Theatre is a moody and meditative work that offers time and house to mirror on how we are able to consciously transfer away from the murkiness of on a regular basis life to seek out peace inside. 

A winsome story of recent beginnings, 2023 marks Genazzano’s transition to choreography after working as knowledgeable dancer for the likes of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Punchdrunk and Jasmin Vardimon Dance Company. These large figures in dance have had sturdy choreographic influences on Genazzano which can be evident and clear when watching her solo. 

2023 begins in the dead of night. Solely a slight beam creeps by way of the smoke-filled stage to steadily permeate the haze. The silhouette of a dancer, Noa, seems phantom-like, sporting all white. Suspenseful stillness happens for only a few extra moments till the sound – courtesy of composers Joe Scott and James Keane – rips into the efficiency house to interrupt the silence; thumpy, pumpy and bassy in its presence. 

Noa’s motion is propulsive. There are convulsive physique pops as she pushes her physique to its bodily limits. She repeats quite a few phases; this opening part emphasising the inescapable repetitiveness of each day life. As her physique jerks, Noa’s face compared is impenetrable and stoic. Is she all too proof against the insanity and monotony of what’s occurring? 

A blackout ends this scene, and we discover ourselves in darkness as soon as extra. Soothing yoga music comes into the house. After a punchy motif in regards to the body-punishing each day grind, we’re instructed by way of a voice over to breathe out and in. To take care. Is that this Noa reclaiming her physique? An ambery gentle units the tone for this hotter part the place the voiceover speaks of therapeutic, of the “great thing about the earth’s pure rhythm”. We watch Noa – now wearing black – who dances launch sequences harking back to Graham approach, that are a balm to her physique after the wrenching choreography within the opening part.  

What follows is a sequence of vignettes punctuated by returns to darkness. Every time the lights go off Noa adjustments behavior; essentially the most stand-out being a white outfit that’s maybe an ode to her time at Alvin Ailey. The clothes seems to be influenced by Ailey’s seminal work Revelations, during which the dancers put on white clothes. The choreography is equally very Revelations, with excessive ‘V’ formed arms, swoops, deep bends and fan kicks. The music tingles with the sounds of mild maracas and gulls, this part feeling escapist and redolent of occasions previous. 

The ultimate vignette sees Noa – wearing black once more – waking as much as a plastic waste-ridden surroundings. The music signifies we’re close to to water, with the sound of sentimental plops and lapping waves aplenty. Noa performs with the litter and makes it tackle new types, till she packs all of it away right into a bag to depart the stage. This remaining tapestry factors to quite than critiques the damaging results of plastic waste, which within the context of wanting ahead to 2023 within the present local weather disaster, feels maybe just a little too mild in its method.   

General, Noa Genazzano’s 2023 is a vibrant patchwork of conceits about reclamation, reconnection and therapeutic after discovering your self at a loss. The choreography has clear influences from the likes of Graham and Ailey, which though a part of Noa’s motion vocabulary and historical past, can typically make 2023’s choreography – bar the primary part – just a little imitative. The solo does nevertheless make for a daring and gripping work, and we ought to be excited to see the place Noa as a choreographer ventures to subsequent.