AJC: “At Atlanta Ballet, ‘Cacti’ sticks a thorn in side of pretentious dance”
Click here to read The Atlanta Journal-Constitution preview of Cacti from Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman. This spirited take on the absurdity of avant-garde art make its Atlanta premiere with Atlanta Ballet on the MAYhem program, May 15-17 at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
“The 2010 dance features grandiose narration that reveals the performers’ and choreographer’s deepest (but not deep) thoughts, immediately cluing audiences in on the work’s absurd tone. Its mind-bending lines include, 'The genderless, anonymous, parallel bodies on the horizontal plain represent the absolute principles of heaven, man and earth.' In addition to an orchestral score, a string quartet plays onstage, strolling amid the barefoot dancers, whose movement is energetic but sometimes intentionally something other than lyrical. Adding to the thorny proceedings, the symbolic cacti of the title indeed appear on stage."
