Modernity meets tradition in Lazgi by National Ballet of Uzbekistan

London Coliseum
September 14, 2024

Not only the title of this fine evening, Lazgi is a dance tradition from the Amu Darya river delta in western central Asia and is listed by UNESCO as being “representative of intangible cultural heritage of humanity.” It translates as ‘trembling’ which can be seen in the hand movements with origins that link to the Zoroastrians. Its founding legends vary from the practical, movements to warm up and light a fire, to the superstitious, the soul being enchanted by music and entering the human body.

It is the latter tradition that is depicted by Raimondo Rebeck’s libretto and choreography which uses ballet and traditional dance to take the story from the sands of the Silk Road to the offices of the 21st-century.

Lazgi dance starts with small movements of the fingers, until travelling through the whole body. Dancers use neck and shoulder isolations of the eastern tradition but with the upright posture of western dance. There is much use of ostinato in the music which is cleverly followed through by Davidson Jaconello’s choice of modern music for the latter parts.

An exhausted woman collapses at an oasis. A man tries to revive her, unfolding a leg and lifting her, her body stretched horizontally to the ground. She revives as musicians play, encouraged by a shaman, dancing for the leader of the caravan. They fall in love and she merges with a ‘soul’  to dance throughout the centuries, even overcoming the materialistic age.

Rebeck creates a duet for the leading women, ‘Soul’ and ‘Love,’ which becomes a pas de trois interspersed with traditional lazgi dance that connects them to their cultural heritage. The choreography is endlessly inventive, the corps moving seamlessly from interesting shape to interesting shape in every plane possible. It is difficult to keep up at times as the dancers seemingly make light of complex lifts and dynamic changes. The dancers’ considerable technique was subsumed beautifully into the very polished performance.

Unfortunately, none of the dancers of the National Ballet of Uzbekistan were credited. The company was founded in 1918 and staged the classics until delving into more national roots in the 1930s, establishing a school a decade later. They were simply superb. Pointe work was exquisite and completely silent. Placing was exact throughout and dancers looked as comfortable in the national dance as they were in the demanding neoclassical ballet.

Yoko Seyama’s staging and Tim Waclawek’s lighting are equally dramatic. A gold cloth, effects enhanced by projected light, lifts as it transforms from desert sands to a caravan tent. The famous silk of the region is suspended behind a traditional dancer, streaming and pulsing above her head as blood red and gold light plays across it. It throbs and undulates, white against a black background like ectoplasm as a pop song thumps in the background and we move into the modern world.

Bars are dropped to the stage lined with candles as the net is rolled back from the orchestra to reveal a pit full like flickering yellow tulip field. It is simple but oddly moving, a nod to the sacred fire of the Zoroastrian tradition and perhaps a reference to the ancient fire worshippers’ temple in Bukhara. The surnay waills as the doira thumps and both seem as appropriate for the dancers as the electronic music.

Lazgi was an unexpected surprise. A really super evening. A performance with nothing to fault. It feels a shame it was only on for one night.

For an excellent, wider selection of photos of Lazgi visit stage designer Yoko Seyama’s website.