Review: Softandhard

Clever play


Like Play and Nature Itself is Helsinki Dance Company’s latest dance piece. The young choreographer Anton Lachky has rightly been noticed around the world. His movement vocabulary arouses the viewer’s interest and keeps them alert throughout the performance.

Puppies in their first snowfall or foals racing wild against the wind… The production Softandhard lives with just as explosive joy.

Just as dance and related leisure habits, from folk dances to more differentiated forms or even parlor play traditions, have their rules and a systematic approach, so this entity, despite its apparent freedom, obeys the rules of the game. Of course, the funny exceptions will strengthen the rules.

Everyone probably remembers the game “follow the leader”, but there is also a saying that “don’t follow the herd, it’s the easiest way to get lost”. The dance piece seems to vary both pieces of advice according to the type of character that is selected under the magnifying glass. And the “character” in this case is compared to the physical and expressive characteristics of the dancers. If all people have body language, then for dancers its revealability is much greater, in Softandhard the physical movements of the group are close to the limit and technical mastery is a significant part of the artistic impression. Acrobatics, surprises, the challenge and richness of detail in the movement language combined with a breathtaking tempo, provide irrefutable material for a dance story.

But modern dance also knows the spoken language, with repetitions, rhythms and mere sounds, making it more instrumental. Anton Lachky uses this method, and it gives the game a personal kick.

And the languages don’t stop there. The stylized and exaggerated facial language is reminiscent of oriental theatre art, and the imitation episodes sped up with comically powerful facial expressions were very much to the audience’s liking. The Japanese tradition is known to have influenced the development of dance. For example, buto, an avant-garde form of contemporary dance, has also been introduced in Helsinki.

It is always extra if you have composed your own music for the work. This time it has been Simon Thiérrée, who is known for his many works specifically in the field of performing arts. The composer knows how this particular choreography sounds, repetitive and emphatically pulse-rhythmic, even with provocative tonal experiments.
The performance lasts only an hour. But that hour is completely full.