Bruckner’s 200th birthday radiates as far as Brazil at the Linz Dance Days

Powerful brass sounds from Anton Bruckner’s “Achter” fill the Great Hall in the Posthof. You encounter the graceful elegance of six dancing couples on stage: the Ansfelden composer’s 200th birthday radiates as far away as Brazil. With “The Eight” the Sao Paulo Dance Company launched the finale of Bruckner’s “Eighter” at the Dance Days on Friday – as a commissioned work.

“Perseverance and Transcendence”

The American master choreographer Stephen Shropshire told the OÖN in an interview that he hears “persistence and transcendence” in the music: “Characteristics that, for me, also reflect the paths of the creative process.”

The six couples who circle each other on stage in ever new, flowing variations also seem to be restlessly driven, seemingly striving for higher things.

Until they suddenly stop in resignation. Shake your head. One couple leaves the stage, the remaining five continue dancing. A scene that repeats itself several times until only one couple remains, gasping for breath: give up or carry on?

Bruckner may have asked himself this question more than once – he always chose the latter. Little by little, the couples find their way back onto the stage and find new courage – dance as an eternal struggle for harmony?

So light and soft

Despite all the precision and elegance in “The Eight” – what makes the Sao Paulo Dance Company so distinctive was almost more to be experienced in the two previous pieces: classical dance art can seem so soft and supple, which this time, despite all its perfection, always has a touch of the swaying hips at the Rio Carnival.

Especially in the opening piece: “Umbó” by Brazilian choreographer Leilane Teles, which talks about the “desire to become the one you emulate.” And the company’s homepage reveals the “act of being inspired, which also generates inspiration and creates a finite cycle.” Not everything can be understood. But the images of the dancers reacting to each other like dominoes, as if they were a big whole, to the rich voice of Tiganá Santana from Brazil are a sensual event in themselves.

The ticking of a clock set the mood for the following piece “Agora” (translated: Now) by Cassi Abranches. In 2018, the Brazilian impressed with one of her works at the Sao Paolo Dance Company’s guest performance at the Posthof.

This time she traced the facets of time, playing with speed and directions: slow movements alternate with those driven forward, as if in slow motion. Sometimes the dancers walk backwards – as if remembering the past. At one point, a couple in the middle is circled clockwise by a dancer.

The flow of time ultimately carries everyone along, their dance becomes more and more pulsating and energetic, with lifts and powerful jumps. Until the clock ticks again: Dance passionately, live now – warns transience.

Conclusion: A brilliant dance evening that brought a touch of carnival to the Linz Posthof.

More dance days in the Posthof:

4/17: CieLAROQUE (Austria): The Salzburg company, founded in 1995, invites you to “rhythm and intoxication”, where the audience sitting on the stage is danced around.

4/24: Rocio Molina: Posthof boss Wilfried Steiner is looking forward to “her uncompromising courage and her breathtaking technique” at the Austrian premiere.

Info, maps: 0732 / 78 18 00, www.posthof.at