Desire to move “disturbs” godliness

The Berlin company Nico and the Navigators danced to works from the Bach era in Erfurt's Predigerkirche as part of the Thuringian Bach Weeks. Erfurt. With esprit and verve, "Nico and the Navigators" dedicated themselves to evergreens of the Bach era in an in-house production of the Thuringian Bach Weeks on the last weekend of the festival. The Berlin theater ensemble created a scenic concert evening based on baroque pastiche practice: director Nicola Hümpel transformed popular arias and instrumental works by the festival saint into images of fascinating power. Like a beggar, the dancer Yui Kawaguchi dragged herself from the rood screen of the Predigerkirche Erfurt up the stairs to the erected stage, there to disrupt the contemplative devotion of a monk-like countertenor and three musicians as a playful seducer. Oliver Proskes' stage intensified the special atmosphere of the sacred building with pews that functioned as movable backdrops, forcing the historical context of the Bach cantatas' origins and initiating a close reading of the text. The monk (Terry Wey) wrapped his search for God in soft litter in the aria "Bist du bei mir." In keeping with the aria's content, the director developed an elegant movement language of hands for it, with which the dancer began to spin her seductive threads. The countertenor countered her ensnarement with the aria "Widerstehe doch der Sünde," which drove Yui Kawaguchi into the center aisle of the nave. She then disrupted the playing of gambist Jakob David Rattinger with saucy charm before shimmying along the harpsichord to Eugène Michelangeli. Finally, an organ inferno interrupted the sinful goings-on, and contrapuntal order returned to the Predigerkirche with Bach's Chaconne, in a dance-like interpretation by Mayumi Hirasaki. Tap to the music of the gambist Terry Wey tried to find his "Vergnügte Ruh" again with walking monk chant full of tenderness, but the dancer animated the gambist to a popular music of Bach's contemporary Marais, to which she tap-danced with exuberance. With a heartfelt Bach meditation on the harpsichord, Michelangeli finally converted the dance-addict to godliness. The director also extracted many light-hearted moments from the Bach study, caricaturing the pianists' hard piano school and some singers' addiction to top notes. Through metaphorical images, slapstick and small farces, the production had a twinkle in its eye, which gave the staged concert evening an enormous liveliness. At the pulpit, on the other hand, critical tones also sounded in pantomime, questioning speech prohibitions, for example. Hümpel thus illuminated various facets of Bach's oeuvre and used them to develop an exciting concert dramaturgy in which the scenic action was captivating but never detracted from the musical quality. With strong facial expressions and captivating physical expressiveness, Yui Kawaguchi lent playful freshness to the production. With sophisticated lighting direction, the musicians were convincing in the arias with the most beautiful interpretation of affect and delightful dissonance leading. Terry Wey pleaded intensely in "Erbarme dich, mein Gott," to which the baroque violinists intoned instrumental sighs - Bach's understanding with depth and courage for unconventional confrontation.

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