MANLY GRAPPLING FULL OF TENSION WITH EMANUEL GAT

Writer’s note: This review originally was written June 24 at the American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, N.C.

A consuming tension makes viewers unable to resist being drawn into an
ever-shifting male-bonding relationship between Israeli choreographer
Emanuel Gat and fellow dancer Roy Assaf in the opening segment of Gat’s
world premiere duet Winter Variations.

A bare stage and shadowy darkness, designed by Gat, focuses the attention solely on this pair’s manly grappling as they pace like wild animals, circling and staking their territory while fastidiously avoiding making eye contact with each other, The men’s nervous energy, manifested in repetitive, circular swiping of their arms over their head and faces, evokes a feeling of wariness and distrust against a recorded backdrop of eerie droning at Reynolds Industries Theater.

The duo — who gesticulate across a distance in short bursts of rapid, independent movement, followed by stillness — finally engage in an uncomfortable stare. As they draw increasingly closer, they flirt with the idea of touching, with undulating arms hovering over one another.

The droning sound intensifies, along with a feeling of dread, as one dancer becomes submerged in blackness and the other creeps cautiously toward him. The tension becomes nearly unbearable to watch.

It’s an emotional payoff when the dancers finally touch, beginning a tentative connection by placing arms across a shoulder or around a waist. This relationship may not be love, but it at least looks like camaraderie.

Intimacy continues to grow as one man nearly places his head in the other’s lap. It’s still awkward, though, as Assaf carries Gat with the choreographer facing outward, his legs hooked backwards around Assaf’s thighs.

When the music shifts abruptly, so does the mood of the men’s partnership. As the Beatles’ A Day in the Life bursts forth, they look like bouncy swing dance partners.

In this give-and-take affair, the two break apart but are soon reunified, running playfully at each other’s side in a circular pattern to the stringed music of Egyptian composer and vocalist Riad Al Sunbati .

Even so, this seems to be a love-hate relationship. These guys alternately turn their backs on each other and walk away, or fake each other out with combative, stiff-armed chops to the shoulders and torso. At the other extreme, joy and wonder become part of the dance as a moment of fleet-footed unison matches the exact rhythm of the stringed oud accompaniment,

Gat plays with the audience through stillness: At one point he and Assaf stand next to each other and simply stare out into the house, and later take a minute-long break just to lie down.

The mood changes again dramatically as sumptuous Strauss bursts forth and the outline of the motionless dancers comes into slow focus through the darkness. Knees and shoulders tremble violently as emotions seem to run high. In the end, all appears maimed or spent in a weak fight of flailing and belly flopping.