A masterpiece from Richter, McGregor and Opie

Last November my colleague Lena invited me for a Royal Ballet triple bill : Unknown Soldier, Infra and Symphony and C. Unknown Soldier was really beautiful. I have since watched Young Men, which focuses on WWI as well as Unknown Soldier and Young Men has moved me more. But this post is about Infra, a piece that has stuck with me since. I’ll for sure be missing feelings and thoughts I had about it, since it’s been so long after watching it, anyhow this is my take:

Infra is a constant battle between crowd and self, and between different paces. The programme of the piece includes a T. S. Elliot quote : ” Unreal City, Under the brown fog of a winter dawn, A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many, I had not thought death had undone so many.” Wayne McGregor describes Infra as a “study of human interaction” in which “dancers move through solos, duets and ensembles”. It was created in 2008 in collaboration with Julian Opie and explores what is “beneath the surface of human interaction”, as Infra stands for “below” in latin.

Dancers move beneath LED screens showing Opie’s figures, like the ones above, which walk with different paces but never stopping, reminding us of our constant chase, of our auto-pilot directions, of the rythym we impose ourselves or are imposed. It contrasts the digital with the real human movement, one might argue it also contrasts the ability to feel, and isn’t life afterall given meaning by our emotions? The contrasts and plays between the empty space and the crowded or the fast and the slow space spark our reflection and might elicit also emotion. For me the fast pace elicits a bit of anxiety which is put to rest in slower segments. I think the picture above is a great visual metaphor for the paradox presented in this dance piece.

Infra is a beautiful collaboration between music, choreography and set design. In my opinion, the strength of this piece is the mastery of Richter’s soundtrack, which is incredibly powerful even on its own. I feel it is a bit unfair to argue that the music is powerful on its own, when my feelings regarding it are definitely always connected to what I saw in the Royal Opera, since it was my first time listening to it. But Max Richter was able to compose all the contrasts I spoke above, fast & slow, strong & calm, sad, anxious, and euphoric, while also bringing the digital vs organic into the work. I associate Opie’s LEDs with Richter’s more synthetic sounds, that almost seem at times the addition of noise to the classical instruments. It is a deeply moving soundtrack. I would be very surprised if someone told me they were not moved by the Infra album. In my opinion, when the music is moving you, you allow yourself to be more permeable and exposed to what the dancers could be feeling. Instead of a spectator, you can be more immersed.

Once you are immersed you can feel to ask yourself: are you running? where are you running to? why would you run? could you just walk there? are you part of the crowd? are you in auto-pilot? how much do you look outside? what is beneath the figure you carry? how much of it are you willing to expose? See it for yourself: