In in the autumn
In the autumn when you say goodbye
In the autumn when all the gates stand open toward
meaningless pastures …
– from Absentia Animi by Gunnar Ekelöf
It is this first stanza of Gunnar Ekelöf’s poem Absentia Animi that inspired Mats Ek to create Meningslösa Hagar (Pointless Pastures). The piece was created in 1992 for John Neumeier’s Hamburg Ballet and subsequently incorporated into the Cullberg Ballet’s repertoire. Ek’s movement language is, as always, deeply idiosyncratic. His choreography evolved over time from narrative dramatic works to evocative poetic dances.
Meningslösa Hagar depicts a series of meetings between people. The piece unfolds in a dreamlike logic instead of direct narratives from real life.
Containing both humor and tragedy anything can happen (and is happening) in these pastures. As is often the case in Ek’s work, the music acts as an adventure in its own right.
Henryk Górecki’s nordic sounds are mixed with wayward interpretations of Swedish folk songs played on violin and harmonica. The set designer Peder Freiij created a enchanted landscape in the form of a blue shimmering courtyard. The imaginatively conceived costumes in turn gave each dancer a completely different character.Below is an excerpt from an interview with Margareta Sörensen for the Cullberg Ballet’s program in the spring of 1993:
“Meaningless? Doesn’t that sound despondent?” Mats Ek, who has just run his daily training, looks surprised at such question.
– It could also mean without precondition, free from demands. A place where anything can happen. Or nothing. The ballet is not at all about the poem, which takes it much further. It’s just about these two words “meaningless pastures” that were suggestive and gave me an image to work with. When I then heard Henryk Górecki’s music, a fusion or link emerged for me. There appeared a sequence of scenes offering concrete situations. For example, between man and woman, between a man and a man, between different people, or between a man and his given space. Everything takes place in a landscape only hinted at – a cloud, a fence, a long haired carpet signaling a pasture.
A Swedish landscape?
– In any event a Nordic one. The music is surprisingly Nordic to my ears. Górecki is from the same generation as Arvo Pärt, both deeply religious. But where Pärt is more Gregorian, Górecki is more barren. Peder Freiij’s costumes give each dancer their own character – we find some of a dream’s clear figures but at the same time they are elusive.
–
Press clippings:
“Ek is a master of original dramatic images, and in Meningslösa Hagar, they are among the most beautiful and spectacular he has ever succeeded with.”
– Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
“… the piece is filled with small glittering scenes. The end result is surprising and overwhelming. “
– Dagens Nyheter
“When have you ever seen the full richness of life expressed in dance like it is in Mats Ek’s Meningslösa Hagar?
– Die Zeit
Music:
Henryk M Górecki: Already it is dusk
Three pieces in Olden style
Traditional Swedish folk music: Barkbrödslåten, Jag går i tusan tankarHon Var Svart / She Was Black (1995) was created as a counterpart to Meningslösa Hagar. While Meningslösa Hagar had a idyllic mood Hon Var Svart / She Was Black was instead an expression the agitation of urban society and its focus on competition.