"Brothers"...Daniel Ezralow & David Parsons

After yesterday's adventure with Les Twins, I thought it would be interesting to look at another piece, with two dancers who are not genetically related...but have an almost identical dance vocabulary and choreographic style:


MUSICALITY: The music that was chosen for this piece fascinates me. In our culture, we typically associate classical music with classical ballet movement. Yet here is an example of classical music being married to movement that works across many genres. The playful quality of the track matches the theme of sibling rivalry perfectly. One can almost imagine two playful puppies wrestling and aggressively trying to move into the superior position.

DANCER SYNC: Since this piece was co-choreographed, it is apparent that a great deal of dialogue and communication allowed them to find a movement language that complimented both dancers. It is always helpful, when the dancers are well matched in terms of physical and technical ability. Aesthetically, from a casting perspective, I would imagine that the piece would always need two dancers who were fairly similar in build and appearance.

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT: Watch the opening phrase of movement, and then see if you can identify the recapitulation of the phrase at 3:50. This repetition grounds the piece in a cohesive through line, so that the piece can diverge into new territory, but always come back to its central idea. Without this, the piece would "ramble" and lose its sense of tight composition. They also use symmetry to great effect. Notice how many times within the piece, the movement is in "mirror image," consequently reinforcing the idea of the two dancers sharing a unique, identical bond.

KUDOS to David and Daniel for giving us such a pristine example of compositional structure, and a dynamic, playful interpretation and performance.