In The Upper Room

In The Upper Room (1986)

Performance: National Ballet of Canada

Choreography: Twyla Tharp

Music: Philip Glass

Youtube (Houston Ballet)

The National Ballet of Canada energized the stage with their athletic rendition of In The Upper Room. It is my favorite production from the company to date, and from the instantaneous standing ovation, that of others in the house as well.

The series of nine short dances are choreographed by Twyla Tharp to a glittering score by Philip Glass. Glass' music weaves undulating sounds at varying registers, each with its own pulse, crests, and falls. Somehow, the voices at varying pitches collaborate in their very collision. Like wave upon proceeding wave, the rise and fall of one voice falls into but amplifies the next. The distinctiveness of each register is often accentuated by its crisp electronic tones. The over all soundscape is one with definite thrusts of crystalline form where their edges have been blurred by sharp, articulate, yet shifting notes.

The play between the focussed and blurred was heightened in the performance by a consistent backdrop of fog. Dancers emerged and submerged into the illuminated haze. Some of their hands were and feet were painted red, darting like flashes musket fire in a burst of gun powder. The dancers themselves moved as the waves of music moved; sometimes alone, other times following each other in small groups of three, two, or five, but always ending or coalescing as a unified surge before atomizing again. Such was the movement of their individual bodies also. On occasion, their muscles stiffened holding themselves momentarily as one piece of glass. Then, as if detached from the torso, the hip, knee, heel, and toe shattered and let loose on their own before being collected once more into the same dancer's body. Mesmerizing.