Jesús Rubio Gamo & Kukai Dantza: Txalaparta

Well-known for his Gran Bolero (Max Prize 2020 for Best Dance Production), Spanish choreographer Jesús Rubio Gamo returned earlier this year to Rome (Equilibrio festival) for one of his latest pieces: Txalaparta. Created by invitation for Kukai Dantza – a company residing in the Basque country and commissioning contemporary dance choreographers to create work in dialogue with the Basque tradition – the piece is based on the traditional xylophone-like instrument that lent its name to the piece: the txalaparta. 

Holding wooden sticks in their hands, the seven performers casually dressed in grey tones rhythmically strike on four txalapartas located at the four corners of the stage, evoking the rain dropping in a forest, intensifying and accelerating their beats. Doubling up as both movers and txalaparta players, they animate the traditional musical instrument and allow its sound to reverberate in their bodies. Walking with stretched hands out leads to physical contact and the continuous flow of movement seeks and achieves further connection between the bodies. The energy of movement never dies; rising, falling and rising again, it becomes a choreographic design that accumulates into body elevations, chains of hands – as in Matisse’s The Dance – and wavy duets that trace the symbol of infinity through holding hands. Codified steps such as kicks, skips and balletic ‘batteries’ along with finger snappings seek further dialogue with the Basque dance tradition. Emotions alternate from sadness to happiness as the piece gradually builds towards ecstatic moments in which nakedness turns into liberation. 

Gamo embarks on a challenging endeavour: to fuse tradition with contemporary dance and work with a company that has exactly this mission. Deprived of the traditional costumes and the participatory and ceremonial purpose of the Basque folklore, the choreographic operation unfolds as a dialogue between movement and the music, composed by Aitor Etxebarria, that accompanies the sounds of txalaparta. The military percussionist sound evokes the proximity of dance with martial arts and frames a choreographic approach that underlines both the strength and the physicality of the dancers as well as their vulnerability. Traditional steps and collective forms are re-elaborated in a process that becomes ‘contemporary’ through its connection with the past. Txalaparta moves the audience for its simplicity and forcefulness, and even though it may lack the transporting feeling of Gran Bolero, the choreographic experiment proves rewarding. ●