Description: One of the most exciting choreographers on the modern dance scene today, Hans van Manen's work is characterized by a supreme musicality and striking versatility. The ballets in this double bill, recorded under studio conditions at the Prinzregententheater in Munich, reflect his choreographic preoccupation with relationships between the sexes. In "Black Cake," the scene is a society party where elegantly dressed couples dance with each other and van Manen plays with ballroom conventions, revealing a range of undercurrents in the relationships between men and women. Both humor and aggression are to be found in "Concertante," which generates an explosive tension in a succession of encounters between four male and four female dancers. 53 minutes.
Wonderfully creative I watched the Concertante three times the first night I received the dvd. Danced to Frank Martin's justly famed music of the same name, rich in subtleties and invention as is the choreography throughout to the delicate and sprightly end. Black Cake begins in a safer more familiar world of the cocktail party ala Twyla Tharp's Sinatra Dances, then gives us two wonderful duets, the second very funny, endly oddly or bravely and amusingly with the dancers acting more than dancing very drunk. Very highly recommended.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
Megaton Man
Trevor
