SPOLETO Sharon Eyal’s most recent creation is as powerful as it is mysterious. The mystery also lies in its title, Into the Hairy, for which its creators (Eyal and her partner Gai Behar) offer no explanation, although the atmospheres lead the spectator to imagine a deep inner pit, in which the ‘hairy’ refers to the most uncomfortable part of oneself, the inner ‘monsters’ or, more in general, a thorny question to be tackled. Leaving aside these hypotheses, the resulting work is as intriguing as it is captivating with its uninterrupted flow of dance, suspended and locked up in a dark and nebulous cave. It is a floating subconsciousness in a surreal atmosphere with references to the world of emotions. In the first tableau it is almost as if you can see a flower opening to then close up again as L-E-V’s seven wonderful dancers pack together and then open back up, as the sound of falling water is heard in the distance. Flowers are also evoked in the refined black lace chosen by Maria Grazia Chiuri, creative director and designer for Maison Dior, to create the skin-tight costumes displaying ladders positioned here and there, in different places for each costume. These rips represent another anomaly in addition that of the movements of the later tableaux: limping walks (with one flat-footed, stretched leg and the other in a relevé), strange undulations of the torso transforming the bodies into floating beings, forced back bends as they jump, unnatural attitudes. Man and animal come together in a flock that quickly becomes the dominant figure on the stage: a traced V- shape pointing directly to the stalls makes for a macabre dance that does not bode well. The lights tend towards red; the music acquiesces the detachment of a man who is quicky swallowed back up by the possessed group.

Into the Hairy marks a clear change of direction in the artistic trajectory of the brilliant Israeli choreographer who currently resides in France, supported by her new musical collaborator (after a long partnership with Ori Lichtik): the young British DJ and composer Koreless has conceived a musical collage, a layered piece comprising harmonious Middle Eastern acoustic melodies, sound of engines starting up and pounding dub. It is a vibrant carpet of sound upon which Eyal’s bodies abandon obsessive behaviours of the past to stray into profound poetics.

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