SAABA / Minus 16 by Staatsballett Berlin
In a very intimate moment, the ensemble's members introduce themselves to the audience one by one by sharing a fact–some basic, some quite moving, and some with great comical timing–about themselves.
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🎭 SAABA / Minus 16
🩰 Staatsballett Berlin
🕺 Sharon Eyal / Ohad Naharin
🏛️ Deutsche Oper Berlin
🗓️ 24.11.2024
Big fan of a Sunday matinee ballet! Pop in at 3pm and leave just in time for an early dinner, then bedtime at 10pm (as if). Now, this performance consisted of two VERY different short pieces that showed the wide skillset of the Staatsbalett Berlin dancers.
SAABA (Sharon Eyal) is a hyper rhythmic and sharp dance set to music somewhere between electronic and techno (not my area of expertise tbh). The dancing is incredibly angular but simultaneously smooth, with the dancers moving across the stage akin to flamingoes moving across water. Part of what makes this piece special are the custom Dior costumes made by Maria Grazia Chiuri from Dior. These fine, almost lacy bodices are skin-tight and give the individual members of the company an almost androgynous appearance.
Minus 16 (Ohad Naharin) goes in a different direction with a selection of Cuban and Israeli music. The piece starts with a single dancer performing an acrobatic choreography on the stage as people come back from intermission, and crescendoes to end in a spectacularly engaging (back to techno) curtain call. Highlight of the piece is certainly at the halfway point, when all dancers enter the auditorium and each invite a random member of the audience to dance with them on stage. Now, people of all shapes, ages, and genders are dancing à la Gaga (the method, not the singer), culminating in the slow-dance embrace of an aged lady with one of the male dancers.
In an intimate moment, the ensemble members introduce themselves to the audience one by one, sharing personal details—some simple, some deeply moving, and others delivered with impeccable comedic timing. These revelations unfold against a pulsating beat, as the entire ensemble moves from one end of the stage to the other, leaving a single member behind in the center to face the audience. Their words, spoken through a pre-recorded voice over that echoes through the hall, create a striking contrast between presence and absence. The vulnerability inherent in ballet and contemporary dance—indeed, in any authentic art form—is laid bare here in a tangible and deeply human way.
We‘ll never truly know if all of the audience members were “randomly chosen” (they were great!), but it also doesn‘t matter—the effect is fantastic. Nonetheless, it was a bit of a bummer that the music was not played live (though I’m more than happy to be corrected on this one since I naively believe it would be possible?): being in an opera house and not having live music feels like a somewhat incomplete experience, even if at the core of the performance lie the dancers and the choreography, not necessarily the skills of live-playing musicians. 5pm, off to dinner now!
