Post 18: Toro Toro Toro

Israel Galvan, Akram Khan. c. Jean Louis Fernandez

Torobaka, by Akram Khan and Israel Galvan, Sadler's Wells, June  2015.


So, from rabbits and caterpillars to cows and bulls.

Torobaka, by Akram Khan and Israel Galvan.  A duel, a duet, becoming a sextet, a trio, and then also solo dance.

There is the exquisite technique we expect from Khan's collaborations--the wit, the surprises, the playfulness--but there is the deeper examination of what makes men, men, and what makes men dance. From the agon contest/fight of the flamenco--Galvan "brings a knife to the stage"--to the earth shimmering and sylllabic splintering of Khan's kathak tradition, these dancers meet in an arena where their respective traditions play up and out to each other.  The Toro is the bull and the Vaca is the cow. Both embrace both qualities, even laughing at themselves, sometimes one mimicking the other. Several times they even gag each others' mouths. But they also give over--to the need in Flamenco to command the stage, and the ability in Kathak to make a temple offering of the dancer to the gods.

The stage is also given over to the musicians: a diverse quartet of David Azurza, BC Manjunath, Bobote and Christine Leboutte, with Bobote also taking the stage for a short but exemplary traditional flamenco solo, which is meet with deep approval from a knowing audience.  Ola!

Galvan states that he, from his more aggressive practice, learnt and absorbed something from Khan's more 'relaxed and peaceful' process, whereas Khan admits the collaboration brought out his 'warrior'. Intriguingly, this dance amongst equals  did not equate to sharing equal stage time, with Galvan's solos running to many more minutes. But then, the evening 'gives over' more than once--to the singers, to Bobote, to the space. In the end, Michael Hull's  huge black chandelier ring--straight from the dining hall of a Spanish castle--descends to mark and complete the temenos, crowning, containing and completing the whole. For indeed the arena of the bullfight and of the Kathak ritual are both marked  by the  ancient symbol of an agon, the arena, and the circle of birthing new form.

Not everyone has been happy: two Indian women, restless from the beginning, leave within the first half-hour, whispering, ‘where‘s the Kathak?” Presumably, they are missing the pure cultural code they long to see preserved.  But Khan and Gavan’s engagement is not one at the cost of the other, nor of the traditions which both nourish and provoke them and each other.  

c. Z Soboslay 2015.