Ice Hot: Carte Blanche

For two weeks, Nordic contemporary dance at its best comes to The Joyce in this delightful festival focusing on Tero Saarinen Company, Danish Dance Theatre, Carte Blanche, three of the hottest companies performing anywhere today.

For Corps de Walk, co-creators Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar set their eyes on the corps de ballet who traditionally form the pale backdrop behind the prima ballerina. But in this work, beautifully executed by Carte Blanche, the Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance, Eyal and Behar rip off the tutus and force the dancers’ heels down to earth. They pulsate in a raw, organic unit that regularly breaks into military positions set to the music of Debussy, to mechanical outbursts of the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten’s, and to friendly passages from David Byrne’s warped backyard. With ice cool stares from the alternately beautiful and grotesque apparitions, Corps de Walk creates a visual and musical journey of pounding beats.