Infra By Wayne Mcgregor

Today I watched the short, contemporary ballet “Infra”, choreographed by renowned choreographer Wayne Mcgregor and performed live by The Royal Ballet Company. I’ve always found myself to feel more drawn to contemporary ballet as opposed to classical so I was very excited going into this project with almost no prior knowledge of the piece itself. As previously mentioned this piece is not only choreographed, but also directed and conceptualized by world famous choreographer Wayne Mcgregor. Mcgregors choreographic style is best described by himself in the documentary as taking little sentences, turning those sentences into paragraphs, and then turning those paragraphs into pages of dance. Mcgregor has a very unique and exciting sense of movement

The dancers themselves wore very drab, neutral monochromatic colors throughout. Furthermore, there was no set with the exception of a large LED screen, hung above the dancers, running the length of the stage; this screen showcased these electronic figures that appeared to walk across the stage, created by artist Julian Opie. This lone design aspect along with the techno, electronic and almost melancholy score accompanying the dancers created an eerie atmosphere that felt robotic. And yet at the same time, through the dancers we experienced so many unique and different, very real and very human

Parallel to other contemporary ballets, we see less of the classical ballet technique that we are typically used to. Instead of circular movements, graceful long lines and effortlessness, there is a specific technique that emphasizes sharp, strong, angular movements (I personally believe the movement in Infra lives in a realm similar to modern techniques such as Graham and Horton) . The very first pas de deux that we see seems to be more sensual and dare I say raunchy, that it almost feels ugly despite the dancers moving beautifully themselves. The quality of movement once again is quick, sharp, and almost forceful, with the male partner throwing, stretching and shoving his female counterpart throughout. When the company danced as an ensemble- we rarely saw everyone dancing together in unison like we are used to seeing in ballet; On the contrary, every dancer was having their own individual and unique experience amongst the crowd. Nonetheless, we still see a specificity in the movement throughout, similar to what we are used to seeing in classical ballet, just in a somewhat different