A mesmeric trip set to a techno beat, Aisha and Abhaya offers technical excellence, and an interesting, though incomplete narrative.
📍 Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
📅 THU 10 FEB TO SAT 12 FEB 2022
🕖 Evenings 7.30pm
🕖 Running time: approx. 1 hour (no interval)
🎂 11+
👥 Director: Kibwe Tavares
👥 Choreographers: Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar
👥 Soundtrack design & original music: Ori Licktik
👥 Additional original music: GAIKA
👥 Film producer: Fiona Lamptey
💰 From £18.50
🎭 Capital Theatres aim to be accessible to all. Contact venue who will be happy to assist where possible.
I try never to read too much about a performance, particularly dance, before experiencing it, thus allowing the artists to paint their creation directly into my mind, free from expectation, so far as possible. Of course, the rub is the “so far as possible,” and when I took my seat in the stalls, I did so with fond recollections of Rambert’s last trip to the city. and no little anticipation.
Aisha and Abhaya begins with a cinematic introduction to the two sisters, shipwrecked and washing up upon the shores of some dark island, which certainly intrigues. The quality of cinematography, and soundtrack is first class, appropriate to Director Kibwe Tavares‘s status as a film-maker of no little distinction. Sans-dialogue, and set to Ori Lichtik and GAIKA’s pulsating techno rhythms, these two refugees first find shelter, before setting off in search of succour, where, this being a dance show, they quite naturally meet a group of camp-fire encircling bacchanalians. One of the sisters (If there’s a means of telling which is which from just watching, I missed it), is reluctant to join with this new order, the other is delighted.
Together with their new associates, they begin a journey to somewhere else, and cinema gives way to live dance. Seven dancers, Aishwarya Raut, Kym Alexander, Guillaume Queau, Juan Gil, Antonello Sangiradi, Daniel Davidson, and Cali Hollister take on the roles of Aisha & Abhaya and five of their new travelling companions. Behind them, a grand, curved screen projects a perpetual journey through an angular tunnel, relentlessly pulling the eye into the action.
The performers are excellent, as one might expect: a troupe of physically gifted, and technically honed human beings. The choreography is all sinewy movement, and barely tamed freneticism, recalling the buzzing waggle dance of bees deep inside a hive. It’s precisely the result one might expect when fusing the world-class physical sensibilities of choreographer, Sharon Eyal, with those of her co-creator, night-club music impresario Gai Behar. Like shoaling fish, the dancers maintain a core stepping action which must be absolutely exhausting, one, or maybe two breaking ranks periodically to explore other movements and more individuality.
Aisha & Abhaya, for their part have left their abundant screen costumery, and their sleek, leotard replacements distinguish them from the other five, by shading, and small, tufted tutus. Consistent with the film, one sister is reluctant to join the swarm, whilst the other joins in whole-heartedly. Other vignettes emerge suggesting bumps along the road to wherever their going, from romance to brutality, but ultimately all must return to the stepping, waggle dance.
Behind them the projection evolves, the dark tunnel steadily illuminating, until plunging them into a vast sea of other faceless dancers, before slipping back into deepest, pulsating abstraction. The imagery is powerful, the soundtrack not a little hypnotic; time slips, and the dance goes on.
If “driving techno” as promised by the show’s programme fails to appeal, be reassured that whilst often loud, it’s less Saturday night, barnyard rave, and more techno-samba, with an interestingly polyrhythmic undertow. It also descends into more moody, nuanced passages, particularly when tracking action on the big screen.
Kibwe Tavares returns to his cinematic world twice more, once to provide a little more of the sisters’ violent backstory and cause of their exile, and lastly, when the dancing is done, to offer a somewhat transcendent conclusion. The unity of film, and dance is somewhat questionable, the former having a distinct, if not entirely defined narrative of sisterhood, life, death, and redemption; the latter offering a journey through a dark techno-punk world. The two are thematically linked, at least nominally, but it’s never clear quite how episodes in one medium lead to, or are influenced by the other. Given that of the sixty minute run-time, approximately half spent on screen, and half with the dancers, that’s quite a jarring disconnect.
Nonetheless, Rambert’s now trademark competence with multimedia is well on show with smooth transitions, and high quality imagery thanks to VFX from Factory Fifteen, animator Paul Nicholls, projection designer Gillian Tan, and film producer, Fiona Lamptey. There’s a great deal of craft on show from the backstage ranks, and the visual results are a testament to their arch-competence. Aisha and Abhaya is a good looking show, just not always immediately intelligible.
Reading afterwards, that the show was inspired by/based upon The Little Matchgirl by Hans Christian Andersen I look back upon Aisha & Abhaya and forgive myself for having not realised this for myself. In retrospect I can piece the elements together and see the base material, but in a rare departure from my normal philosophy, think that informing yourself of this this pre-watching would be beneficial (as you just have if you’re reading this and then buy tickets – you clever reader, you!)
Returning to the dance corps, I have nothing but praise, particularly for Guillaume Quéau’s imperious muscularity, and Cali Hollister’s precise and fluid mechanics. No company, not even as storied as Rambert can achieve complete success with every production, but their commitment to excellence in physical performance and musicality makes a wonder of even the imperfectly conceived. Aisha and Abhaya is a fascinating experiment in the performing arts, and if not everything sits just right, the company must still be congratulated for its continuing to push the boundaries of high-profile, popular modern dance.
For tickets, and more information on this production, please click here.
Aisha and Abhaya will play Barcelona in March, to find out more, please click here.
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