Manos!
“Manos!” (“Manós” to be precise”) roared all the dancers of the Béjart Ballet at the end of the “lachrymose” choreographies to the music of the Greek composer. The crowd seduced by a sense of hyper-patriotism and flattered that “Manós” (Hadjidakis) -and “Mikís” (Theodorakis)- are known internationally and sell well (not to forget Demis, Vangelis, Moustakí-s) sang along and applauded Maurice Béjart’s dance company with great enthusiasm. Maurice Béjart is well known to the Greek audience and he still presents in his works the old and successful motto of the modern Greek civilisation: “a little wine, a little sea and my love”.
The first part of the opportunistic summer performance by the Béjart Ballet was titled “Seven Greek Dances” set to music by Mikis Theodorakis. It consisted of the often presented “syrtaki à la francais” which Béjart has videotaped and performed live around the world. This “classic” work, dedicated to the splendour of Greece surpasses the mid-70s kitsch Sunday afternoon “Musical Walks” of the former state TV channel EIRT (as performed by dancers of the calibre of Tasos, Thodoros, Iordani and last but not least Boubou); or even the choreographies by the late Rallou Manou with “archodorembetica” (“The coach in the rain” etc), in the late 50s.
In the second part we were presented an unispiring erotic duet set to traditional flamenco music: boy meets girl, girl is difficult but then changes her mind and wants to settle down, boy resists, tears-litanies and arguments follow (as the song says “I want to see you down on your knees to beg me”) and at the end the lovers separate perhaps because the woman managed to free herself from the chains of marriage. The big and corny occasion was in the third part titled “Manos” in the format of sketches or collages. (For example, the dancers once they have finished their part, remained on stage whilst the next one was starting as backdrop but with some movement so that the whole was a little more elementary than a school performance.) Unfortunately the actual work did no favours to an excellent cast, particularly the female dancers who were much better than their male counterparts.
The most traumatic moments of the night had to do with the regression of the audience which seemed to appreciate an artistic/aesthetic presentation of Greece through the symbols of Acropolis, mousaka and bouzouki (alas these are the by products of hosting the Olympic games and we are still in 2002); also the song with the lyric “I will hold you tight-you’ll have your legs spread”, the climax of a district level lyricism (mercy! by the time this ideal vision of a local sexual act had finished we had suffered an earache); and of course the applause….particularly the applause…