My first thought when leaving the Palais Garnier last Saturday was that I'd never seen so many people coming out of a ballet with a huge smile on their face. Given the historic snobbery of French people and our love for criticism, that alone should be testament to the ecstatic feel of Ekman's piece.
Named - accurately - Play, Ekman's work starts off with a group of coordinated dancers, guiding each other through repetitive movements, looking almost as if they were looking to fall into a trance.
The dancers look like they're seriously trying to play - and text flashes behind them with that very injunction. For Ekman, returning to the enjoyment of our body is a task and he undertakes it by posting, amongst the playful, one woman in a suit. She grumbles, she tries to clean up the dancers' mess, and ultimately she bands the audience and the performers together in the mischief being accomplished on stage.
In Ekman's world, she's the adult, and the ballet's second act focuses on her world. By taking us from a world of absolute freedom, where ballerinas dance on cubes and astronauts chase green balloons, to a world of suits and black, the choreographer outlines how similarly nonsensical serious and silly things can be.
Ultimately, Ekman's craft is leading us on a journey of pure enjoyment - enjoyment of the movement, beautifully crafted by artists who seem to take pleasure in every step, enjoyment of the set, at times esoteric, bureaucratic to become finally a pool of balls (which was of course my favourite part), but also enjoyment of art for itself.
Ekman's voice points that out, blaring out as we are confronted with a close-up of his contorting face (in pleasure or in pain, we do not know). He's not following in Gautier's footsteps; rather, Ekman celebrates the existentialism there is in sitting in a dark room for two hours and enjoying the journey a dance takes us on, with no regard for where it's taking us.
All in all, a beautiful celebration of dance and storytelling with no clear goal that leaves all who see it with a smile on their face and the wish to jump into a ballpool - although the giant balloons launched around the room during the finale definitely helped too.