Jo Turbitt reviews 'And then, one thousand years of peace' (****), part of the Edinburgh International Festival's 2012 season.
Based predominantly on the ideas within the Apocalypse, Ballet Preljocaj present a tapestry of textured choreographic ideas, images and beautiful physicality. Each section depicts different elements of the base-concept; the design, choreography and manipulation of the intentions in each part blend beautifully, congregating to form a strong voice. The movement vocabulary was juxtaposed like lava: at times it was hot, pacey and fluid; at others it was delicate, slow and solid.
My one bugbear was that they didn't fully investigate the potential of each of their ideas. Each had so much scope and room for development but wasn't fully explored. It was for this reason that I left feeling slightly unfulfilled by the opportunities that were missed because the facility and potential for the execution was there in abundance.
Overall, the show highlighted the incredible talent, physicality and creativity of the dancers and the team behind the show; gorgeous lighting, a dream design and choreography with depth, layers and structure. The final image is one that will stay with me for a long, long time: livestock—onstage. Now that's an ending.