Dance has always had the power to reflect real emotional consequences to our actions and decisions in the form of storytelling. Every once in a while, I find those performances to be obscured by unnecessary complicated layers of props, conceptualism, and abstraction. And on the other end of the spectrum, I sometimes find not enough magical adhesive to grab onto, and the journey between mover and audience member stops there. So when I had the privilege of watching Marion Barbeau and Ulysse Zangs perform Dimitri Chamblas’ work “Ulysse Marion” at REDCAT this past Tuesday evening, I wanted to hold onto the moment and preserve the feeling. Not simply for their unmatched technical abilities, but for their real, raw, openness to share their separate experiences growing up training at the Paris Opera Ballet. The work challenged me to recognize the pieces of myself that need reflection and grounding.
Marion Barbeau in Dimitri Chamblas’ “Ullysse Marion” – Photo courtesy of Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT). Photo by Angel Origgi.
Opening with Marion Barbeau’s solo, Barbeau enters wearing long black grunge jeans, an oversized purple button down, with an oversized leather jacket. As the piece continues, she slowly strips pieces of the clothing; first the jeans, revealing bright yellow basketball shorts, and then the jacket and shirt, revealing a simple black tank. The pieces of clothing as props is not new, of course, and even as she slammed them repeatedly on the ground throwing them up over her head and then down again, is again…not new. We’ve seen reflections of loosely channeled anger and frustration in this framework before, but it’s the amount of time she spent doing it that caught me. It wasn’t overly provoked, or accompanied by yelling, it was an act of momentary difficulty and then let go of. This reflection of true life tantrums, slowed down to perfection on stage, was a feeling I very much resonated with. The simple dramatization of real life connection with ourselves was reflected in this world on stage. She channeled this into other underlying motifs of the solo, such as pulling and pushing an imaginary oddity or even precious moment in time around the stage with her, an ongoing motif centering the work. She went into a full arabesque, to then break the lines into a fallen swan song, bending at the knees and elbows as she crumpled towards the floor. We even got a moment of pause when she took bites of a croissant while listening to a rendition of herself singing as a child. All of these moments were deliberately curated between Chamblas and Barbeau to give us a mirrored reflection of ourselves through the lens of dance.
Marion Barbeau in Dimitri Chamblas’ “Ullysse Marion” – Photo courtesy of Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT). Photo by Angel Origgi.
As Barbeau leaves the stage, and exits via the staircase in the audience towards the REDCAT lobby, the gentle sound of an acoustic guitar permeates the stage air. And the sweet vocals of Ulysse Zangs original composition walks center stage. With a chlorophyll green cut out shirt, and baggy black pants on, Zangs sings for a long while making eye contact with direct audience members, before handing over the guitar to a gentleman in the third row. When Zangs takes off sprinting in a circle around the stage, it’s clear no theater would ever contain the magnitude of power and impassioned movement he displays in a performance. It almost seemed like, not only REDCAT, but any provincial space would be too small for him. He moved from the heart, from the place inside that cannot be taught or learned. It’s an emotional channel for movement that is born spontaneously, and I could’ve watched Zangs for an eternity to come. He would frequently throw himself into the air, often mimicking a loose saut de basque, and then tumble into the floor in a way that feels as though one is giving up and losing hope. Perhaps even more than Barbeau’s solo piece, I got a sense of Zangs’ intimate reflection of the burdened duality of an artist’s life, and the emotional and physical exhaustion it takes to live it day in and day out. This was best displayed in his quiet moments kneeling on stage after outbursts of grand jeté’s and leaps across from stage left to stage right. In another interaction with the audience, Zangs asked a woman to put bright red lipstick on his lips, as he backed away, smearing it in an exaggerated smear of a smile. Another deliberate musing of life chosen for him almost, to smile through the pain, when the show must go on. As Zangs takes his guitar back onstage, Barbeau rejoins him, as they slowly stroll upstage center with a black drop lighting by the incomparable Yves Godin, as the two disappear into an ether of blackness.
Ulysse Zangs in Dimitri Chamblas’ “Ullysse Marion” – Photo courtesy of Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT). Photo by Angel Origgi.
What makes the piece so memorable is not the distinct choreography itself, but the emotion around the memory it reflects. And isn’t that the whole point sometimes? The dancers gave an unmatched portrayal of individual sensors and experiences from the whole of human interaction and spectrums. They honored their own past but still invited me to share in their cohesive collective memory. It wasn’t a spectacle, but a rare performance of simplicity in its most complicated form. I’m so glad I was there to witness the unfolding.
Ulysse Zangs in Dimitri Chamblas’ “Ullysse Marion” – Photo courtesy of Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT). Photo by Angel Origgi.
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Written by Grace Courvoisier for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Marion Barbeau in Dimitri Chamblas’ “Ullysse Marion” – Photo courtesy of Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater (REDCAT). Photo by Angel Origgi.
