In a state of unfettered evolution, what shape do you take?

The Shedding of Velvet by by Janina Smolira & Yaga Arts was developed in residency last year at the inaugural Poneke Contemporary Dance Festival 2024 and is debuting this year at Te Auaha’s smaller theatre of the two Tapere Nui, which feels very fitting for this intimate solo dance work.

Upon entering Tapere Nui, a particular atmosphere can be felt in the room, different from the bustling energy of the dance festival. Instead, it feels calm, respected, and protected in some way or another, and the audience automatically adapts as they would entering a sacred space, by tiptoeing in and using soft voices.  The floor is lit from each corner, and Smolira is already in place, wearing nothing but a long black velvet skirt, kneeling on the floor, nude torso resting on thighs, the head tightly tucked under, arms at the sides; an image already speaking a thousand words. The spatial design was created by Grace Bella, and to the front left of the stage, taking up much of its space, there is a huge chrome tub filled with a thick brown burgundy liquid substance. Questions immediately arise about Smolira’s crouching, hidden position and the basin of fake blood, whether this animal or human is already born. Or perhaps they are just hiding, or sleeping, making us wonder how they might interact with the fake blood.

The sound design and music composition by Scarlett Peckham are integral to the piece and the main indicators that the show has begun as Smolira slowly responds by articulating her exposed torso, shoulder blades, and spine. Smolira’s arms and fingertips are a significant part of their storytelling as they cross their wrists and twinkle their fingertips constantly, offering us clear references to an image of deer antlers that recur throughout the choreography and lighting effects.  The initial sound is difficult to decipher, but the closest images I have are something breaking away or falling like an avalanche, or the crumbling of an entire building. 

Smolira draws out the time, cleverly holding off from exposing their face to us by hanging forward, and even when we do spot them, their eyes are closed and unengaged with the audience. Throughout the work, the music co-exists with the movement qualities, from slow and liquid to quick, high-alert and anxious. Dynamic highs and lows of spiralling movement into the ground, along with forceful and agitated thrashing of the head and convulsing of the spine, eventually slow down and return to the earth from where they initially began.  

The choreography doesn’t always fall into classic contemporary dance composition, but more of an exploration of what images Smolira can create with their limbs, making absolute sense for a dancer with a physical range that comes with great flexibility and supple hips.  There are a lot of technically challenging explorations for example, balancing on one leg while the other leg is curiously wandering all around the place, and when they fall off balance on a few occasions, no one notices. Technical perfection is not what this show is about.  At times, Smolira’s legs or arms look like they have lives and plans of their own, and a wild rogue foot has to be aggressively grabbed to stop.  This happens several times, but on one occasion in the piece, the tension builds very fast, and a kind of inner turmoil works its way through Smolira`s body. They become possessed, and the dance here is fantastic and flawlessly executed.

The prolific images and illusions are seen not just with Smolira’s own body but also with the powerful shadow imagery that lighting designer Tom Smith produces on the walls.  As Smolira crosses her wrists above her head with her fingers spread wide, it is the perfect image of a deer antler, and they play with this imagery on the back wall, and again a double image on either wall, in stillness and movement, which is spell-binding. Another highlight is Smolira in a headstand with seemingly no torso as the skirt acts as a blanket, and as if the image isn’t intriguing enough, the shadow of the legs becomes another creature.

Smolira alerts our attention to the tub, slowly approaches, walking on hands and feet, head down, out of sight.  Dipping their toes and lifting the leg with liquid dripping down is both recognisable and significant for both human and animal, as written in the programme notes, ‘the shedding of velvet is one of the few instances of bloodshed in nature which is not a consequence of violence, the other being menstruation‘.  Smolira returns to the basin throughout the piece and uses the dripping of blood down their body as a guide and initiator for the movement with a goal to travel the drips, and by the end of the piece, their face, arms, legs and the floor are smeared with blood. 

In the finale, when Smolira returns to their initial beginning position, we see it with new eyes as the scene has been completely re-framed.

The music and lights do a clever job in accompanying the evolution of Smolira’s creature in its many states and forms, and as I reflect on the performance, its memory leaves an impression that it is performed by 3 or 4 different dancers.  I greatly appreciate the variety of instruments in the music in different sections that tie it together seamlessly, such as piano, synth, brass, and violin, all sounding with great life-force but also fine edges of vulnerability. 

The Shedding of Velvet by Janina Smolira is an absorbing journey and an intimate, unconventional solo dance work that uses the power of performance, light and sound to invite its viewers to existentially dream of other possible evolutions of self.

Copyright © in the review belongs to the reviewer