Enchanting, bewitching, entrancing, purely amazing. Those are some words that can describe Coda21’s performance at Teatro Yagüez this past Friday, November 11th. Before the show started, the company’s director Denisse Eliza took the stage and explained to the public a brief summary of the history of dance in the world and how dance developed in Puerto Rico. She chuckled saying it was very brief because, in reality, it has a vast trajectory and history. After the conversation and brief Q&A, it was curtain call.
Coda started with an excerpt from the classical ballet, Les Sylphide. After demonstrating the company’s fluidity and advanced classical technique, the real thing started in the second act.
Full of contemporary richness, I found myself in the collective sighs and bewitched stare of the audience. Flesh kicked it off, choreographed by Denisse Eliza, which she danced with her partner, Omar Nieves. Full of warm lighting, a black backdrop and music full of voices that appeared gregorian chants, this piece touched my heart. The fluidity of the pair’s movements and trust made a terrific piece that seemed to form human knots in constant movement. It finished in an endless kiss that never stopped the pair’s movements and steps. Sometimes, the touch of flesh can be explosive.
Then a piece of tangos captured the public’s eye with innovative movements. The skirts part of their clothing were as fluid as their steps and, as they were included in the choreography itself, the fabric was so terrific it seemed as another dancer onstage. Truly different from anything I’ve seen before, the four women that performed this piece evoked a feeling of strength and confidence, similar to that of society’s woman.
The closing piece truly left me speechless. It’s theme was Human Rights and Liberation. Already with that, you know it’s gonna be a good one. And it did not fail to deliver. Rassamblement evoked the spirit of all those victims of having their rights ignored and treated for less than what they are. The dancers truly personalized this and the protagonist, Vesna Lantigua lost herself in the music and character. The music of our African roots was so varied that in one movement it was just silence and random sounds like whispers and clanks and in another, women’s voices seemed to resonate throughout all the theatre like weeping and drums that threatened to take over. The dancer’s utter and superior control of their bodies were amazing to watch. Coda21 once again manages to hypnotize their audience, a trait that sets them apart from many companies in Puerto Rico.