The story is ancient,but the style is pure Gallotta - sharp movements, clean lines, small, jittery steps and unbridled athleticism interwoven with moments of silent, all-consuming passion.
Daphnis et Chloe began with the Greek novelist Longus and made its stage debut under Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russe only to be later streamlined by French choreographer, writer and filmmaker Jean-Claude Gallotta. This month, it comes to Beijing as part of the Croisements Festival.
Longus's four-volume work has a massive cast of characters, psychic dreams, birth secrets and an astonishing amount of technical difficulties in shepherdess Chloe and goatherd Daphnis consummating their love - presumably alcohol was not available. In 1909, Diahilev approached Maurice Ravel with a simplified version; here, pirates tear Chloe out of Daphnis's arms, and sympathetic god Pan, remembering his own lost love Syrinx, helps get her back. Ravel's 55-minute work was for a full orchestra that included 15 types of percussion and a wordless chorus, while Michel Fokine's choreography includes a corps of nymphs, brigands and secondary characters.
Gallotta's version is stripped to the bare essentials of both dance and love. Except for a brief recorded interlude, the orchestra is now an onstage piano in what looks like an empty rehearsal studio, complete with marley floor. This is elegant simplicity. The energy is infectious; the movements both playful and passionate. We hear barks, yelps, whimpers and audible slaps; we see romantic exuberance, frenetic desperation and enveloping, bewildering emotion. Few artists convey so much with so little. A Gallotta classic not to be missed.
Daphnis et Chloe is at China Shijitan Contemporary Art Centre on Thursday 9 June