A mother-of-pearl floor, laid at a slight angle in front of two silver-white hanging backdrops. Two dancers, their backs to us, stock still, one hip dropped and sharply jutting. This is the scene that greets us in Montpellier’s bijoux Opéra Comédie when we enter for Armin Hokmi’s premiere of Bazm (Repertoire), his third choreographic work as an associate artist of the festival.
Clad in geometrically patterned, muted beige and brown the dancers begin to move, incrementally, but with palpable rhythm. Oblique, backward leg reaches, slow shoulder hunches followed by heavy drops, feet re-angling precisely 45 degrees. Seven more dancers arrive and slot into the frame like chips in a living mosaic, adjusting and readjusting the pattern. This assemblage of micro-movements: neck elongations, heel or chin raises, mostly performed in semi-profile, becomes a riveting dance of details.
The music, an integral player in the process, slides back and forth from electro-pop to jazz, to cinema-style orchestration. The dancers’ movements seem slickly affixed to the sound, yet there are glitches: missed beats or marked pauses that disrupt the system never allowing us to be lulled.
Bazm roughly translates as ‘event’, but one in which unexpected things can alter the outcome. An apt title for this beautiful, enigmatic and bewitching puzzle. ●
Oonagh Duckworth’s trip to Montpellier was supported by Agora, Cité Internationale de la Danse
