Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performed at ADF June 25-27. The repertory company presented "Decadance," by choreographer Ohad Naharin. The work is a collage of short sections of 10 of Naharin's previous dances from the last two decades. I distilled the dance even further, into ten images from the collage.


1. A line of frozen manikins, backlit. A sudden explosion, arms and legs violently flung, swung, her back contorting. She is still. The line pounds, shakes the air with fists raised. They are still.

2. He parries, thrusts forward one more time. This time, caught. Violent with love, he slams his head against her chest.

3. The first one ducks his head, dips his fingers inside the bucket, smears two muddy trails down his cheeks, his chest, his thighs. I dare you, his glance says, as he passes the bucket down the line.

4. She struts to center stage, flaunts her feathers, her hips. Her wide lips spread, encircle the booming male voice.

5. A line of women in suits, lit eerily from below. The male voice croons, swoons, as the women clutch their throats.

6. Holding onto their hats, dancers circle in their suits, corralling their partners—drawn from the audience—into the center of the stage. Bewildered, excited, at ease, uncertain, spotlight-grabbing, tickled, they mill and bounce, watching the circle for a cue.

7. Ignore Beethoven, the spider—pounce—the damnation of Faust --hands wave wildly above head, lunge, fingers splayed and reaching over head—Just make it, babe.—circle to a new spot, begin again. Again. Again. Make it.

8. White chests flash open as the explosion ripples around the circle, thrusting them from the chairs. An army. A country gripped by inevitable repetition, violence, unity. Jumping to their feet as one, they offer their voices.

9. Hip bounce, finger point, cheesy grin, fixed stare.

10. Loose, carefree skips, a breaking away from the flock, a turning away from our gaze, a pulling towards the inner joy.