Imbued with mystery and chaos, Ohad Naharin’s Arbos (originally created for the Sydney Dance company in 1989) is simultaneously stunning and grandiose. The sound of footsteps and breathing made by the performers inform part of the choreographic structure. Counterpointing this, Arvo Pärt’s sacred musical score incorporated elements of Gregorian chant. Rakefet Levi designed the costumes and the almost mythical lighting designer known simply as Bambi, of Pink Floyd’s Britannia Row Productions fame, designed the light.
The work is highly physical, musical, meticulously structured and crafted, sensual, risky, open and moving.
While not fully an abstract work Arbos did not either follow a normative dramaturgical structure, bound in traditional terms to time and space. It challenged the perception and emotional response, portraying a strong individualism at its core. Naharin sought to depict human wisdom in Arbos, while at the same time making people reconnect to their own life experiences.
This is how Bodil Persson wrote in Dagens Nyheter (Swedish national daily newspaper) after the premiere:
“Arbos (1989) is based on the Estonian Arvo Pärt’s medieval mass. The dancers are dressed in heavy ankle length dresses. It is a piece that incites mystery and chaos …I am stunned by the grandiosity and animal quality in the dancers’ movements. Their breathing and the sound of their footsteps are included in the choreography. Groans and sighs tear at Pärt’s sacred atmospheres.”
Music: Arvo Pärt