Fulfillment. They dance in the air, lying down, barely touching, wrapped in each other’s arms, at arm’s length, with body and soul and in an absolute state of grace. “They” are Valeria Apicella and Orin Camus, musically accompanied by the pianist and composer Xavier Klaine. Then, to a score by Olivier Renouf, Noriko Matsuyama and Rodolphe Fouillot take the space. In these two duets, collectively called Intervalle, the choreographer Paco Dècina, a past master of the filtering and changing of time, whose Soffio so enchanted us last season – here introduces us to slightly more than an hour of pure happiness. We watch two couples, two beings who are drawn together, alternately approaching and rejecting each other, finally joining together in peace. With extraordinary sensuality, fluidity, subtlety and a phenomenal level of sensitivity in performance rippling between them, these four performers move with unparalleled grace. They are lit by Laurent Schneegans and they dance and dance and it is what we love to see.
Intervalle by Paco Dècina is a work in which two couples interact and intertwine in a non anecdotal, plotless form, which allows one to formulate his or her own interpretations of the couples’ actions, regardless of whether this is the choreographer’s intent. It is useful to know how the piece was created, to know that Dècina continues working in the deliberately plotless mode begun in Neti-Neti (2000). A piano is set upstage, there is no set. This is pure dance, with a barely perceptible virtuosity involving focus and rhythmic precision, following a remarkable progression from extreme slowness to faster speeds. We are aware of the entanglements, of the assumptions made by each partner. In the first duet the man literally penetrates the intimate spaces of the woman, filling in the spaces made by her shapes, to a powerfully controlled piano piece performed and composed by Xavier Klaine. Distance which unites - Then the man lies down, another assumes the same shape; the pianist exits the stage, a new female dancer enters and the first male dancer exits. This transition eliminates any sense of opposition between the two couples, though they remain inextricably linked like the two sides of a book, created as one movement of spirit. Their very distance unites the duets while the strange score forces one to listen carefully. One is intensely aware of the space between the bodies and the tension therein. One sees the importance of being at exactly the right ‘interval’ to cross into the space of the Other. And, as Merce Cunningham once said, "whenever two people are on a stage there is immediately a story being told, so it is unnecessary to add anything else." The story of this particular Intervalle seems to be that of all couples who are searching for the right distance between fusion and autonomy.
We watch as the space between two bodies vibrates, flexes, twists, tenses. The choreographer Paco Dècina, who also known for his choreography of the immobility of certain bodies in space, presents a sober yet sensual work which avoids showy virtuosity. Contemplating a piece by Paco Dècina induces a sort of spiritual revery – this is dance which feels good, from which one emerges refreshed, in fact you won’t find anything better anywhere. Intervalle consists ot two duets, one to an original piano piece by Xavier Klaine, the other to an electronic score by Olivier Renouf.
Paco Dècina is known as a creator of minutely fashioned exquisite dances. Even at top speed, his movements leave visible jet trails in the air. Clearly it is the right time for him to explore the idea of the space between bodies, while continuing his work on slow motion movement, this time through the performances of Valeria Apicella and Orin Camus, and Noriko Matsuyama and Rodolphe Fouillot. These four dancers constitute two duets whose entanglements become part of the choreographic source material, in successive phases of symbiosis to an original piano score by Xavier Klaine. Intervalle is incredibly precise, allowing neither a misstep nor a false note. The audience sees an intense through line of dancing linking all four dancers.
Paco Dècina’s new work is called Intervalle. Here two duos interlock and interchange, embodying two views of one concept – moving slowly. One man, one woman, two duets. Are they meant to be seen as “duo one” and “duo two”?
Paco Dècina explains "The raw material for me is something unformed which I approach using my intuition, my understanding of it. The idea of slowness came to me on its own, it demands complete honesty with the self as well as its opposite, rapidity. Dance is for me a way to know myself and others."
The piano score, written and performed by Xavier Klaine, lays down the notion of suspended space, changing moment to moment with the extreme slowness of the movement. Each gesture is executed, stretched out, focused, spare. The spectator realises he is not seeing Intervalle from the front or from another angle, he discovers that he is inside a choreographic time warp conveying him from place to place, with neither beginning nor end. He begins seeing the dance as the folds of a fabric of shapes consisting of micromutations and tiny impulses, infinitely small but infinitely necessary. The angular curving shapes Paco Dècina gives to each performer, male and female, evoke the possibilities of these bodies imbued with their relationships to others, in a continuous movement of feints and territorial claims. The watchers and the watched drift into a decompartmentalised space asking them to close their eyes in order to "see" better, to go beyond merely visible shapes. This work is close to us yet so far away.