Fuel

Cayetano Soto

Fuel transforms the body into an engine, animated by a raw and incessant energy, in a choreographic creation by Cayetano Soto where movement, tension and exhaustion respond to each other.

In this new creation, Cayetano Soto draws inspiration from Fuel , a symphonic work for strings by Julia Wolfe. The American composer transposes the world of modern industry, with its machines and fuels, into muffled metallic sounds. Soto reduces the human body to this idea of a single substance that keeps the world in perpetual motion; as if the dancer, too, were animated by this mysterious energy. The choreographer alternates, in contrast, dynamic pas de deux of virtuosic technical execution with static, motionless moments. In these moments of apparent slowing, the dancers stand alone, unable to rest. Conversely, they move nervously in small, jerky movements, as if recharging. Invariably, they are swept along, exhausting their energy, until their reservoir is empty.

“The world premiere – Fuel , by Spanish choreographer Cayetano Soto – was frenetic, agitated, incredibly aggressive, provoking feelings of anxiety and exhaustion in the audience, who were sunk into their seats, remaining silent until the end of the piece, before the theater erupted in cheers and applause. (…) They (the dancers) whirl and fight, the men resembling fantastic creatures straight out of a Tolkien novel: monstrous, powerful, and supple, arching their backs and bending their shoulders with the fluidity of a creature ready to attack. (…) This mesmerizing dance was disconcerting but so breathtaking in its strangeness and agitation that even when the dancers stopped dancing, it seemed as if their movements continued. It was impossible to look away.”

- Andréa Nemetz, The Chronicle Herald (Halifax, Canada)