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Alexandra Tomalonis
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'Wasla': Timeless Movement

Compagnie Fattoumi Lamoureux
Alexandra Tomalonis
Special to The Washington Post
May 4, 2000; Page C10

The world that Compagnie Fattoumi Lamoureux creates on stage is part North African, part French, a reflection of the interests and background of its choreographers, Héla Fattoumi and Eric Lamoureux. Movement, atmosphere, and especially the stunning lighting of designer Urvan Letroiga, made the Kennedy Center’s tiny Terrace Theater stage seem as constricted as the courtyards of an ancient city, and as infinite as the desert.

Fattoumi and Lamoureux’s “Wasla,” subtitled “That is what links…”, a 90 minute movement piece that the company performed Tuesday night, opens with three figures, perhaps robed, barely visible in the distance; it’s a timeless image, shimmering in what seems to be desert heat. As the light changes, however, the three become women, women of the here and now, barefoot and in summer dresses. They begin to move, almost imperceptibly at first. They may be in a courtyard, or a prison recreation area; there’s the sense of an outdoor, enclosed space. Their dancing at times quiet and beautiful, at times wild, jerky, and elementally sexual suggests loneliness, lack of contact, and a barely suppressed anger. Nothing is specific enough to hinder one’s own imagination.

A second section is for four equally isolated men. There’s a yearning in their dancing, and aggressive movements become affectionate. The women and men never connect, never even share the same space, perhaps as a nod to Muslim custom, perhaps a metaphor for isolation. The dance ends with the men sitting on stools, as though around a campfire, though each is still alone. The lighting again becomes the star, fading as though the fire dies, darkness ultimately obscuring them.

The second section of the dance (after an intermission, added because of technical limitations; the work was choreographed to be danced unbroken) is a 30-minute solo for Fattoumi. She’s in a dark alcove sliced by a diagonal of light. There’s a sense of mystery about her, about her space. It’s as though we’re in a back alley in Tunis, spying on a woman half-hidden in her doorway. She explores the space, as though not daring to leave it, at times moving into the light, then retreating back to the shadows. Towards the middle of the dance, however, Fattoumi breaks free from her alcove, which, naked of light, is now only a set. Her dance controlled, broken movements and much unusual quick, small footwork is a tour de force of stamina, but unfortunately, Fattoumi is not quite extraordinary enough a dancer or mesmerizing a personality to carry so long a work.

“Wasla” will be performed through May 4.