Some Guys Just Want to Dance

Playfulness and spontaneity don’t always play a prominent
role in the dance found around town, but for five men from Slovakia—longtime
friends who formed a collective in 2006—those are definite priorities. Known as
Les SlovaKs, based in Brussels and making their local debut next week, they
first met as kids performing with local folk dance groups. As they got older
and their teenaged peers turned away from dance to soccer and other sports,
they remained loyal to dance, eventually finding their way to conservatories to
study it seriously, their paths crossing here and there.

Eventually, they all headed to Brussels, where a booming and
diverse dance scene beckoned. Between them, they spent several years performing
with some of Europe’s major contemporary dance companies—those of Anne Teresa
de Keersmaeker, Akram Khan, Wim Vandekeybus and David Zambrano. But now they
work—and play—collaboratively, creating their own dance that draws on both the
traditions in which they were steeped from an early age, and the varied
cutting-edge movement styles they have studied and performed. New York’s
introduction to Les SlovaKs will be Opening Night, their first work,
which they will perform at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. (A second piece, Journey
Home, with which they now also tour, had its premiere last November.)

They had just returned from performances in Switzerland when
Anton Lachky, one member of the quintet, spoke by phone from Brussels last
week. “The works have been, since the beginning, very collective. There’s no
leader, no one person who decides, who directs. As we know each other for many
years, it’s like in a family—everybody has his role, his function within the
family. Each person is responsible for something, but in the end, about the
choreographic decisions, it’s very collaborative,” he said, explaining the troupe’s
dynamics.

Along with three of his colleagues—Peter Jasko, Milan Herich
and Milan Tomasik—Lachky moved on from folk dance festivals to the J.L. Bellu
Conservatory in Banská Bystrica when his interest in dance became more focused
and serious. He spent a year at the University of Bratislava, where the program
“was more specialized for the pedagogical approach, but there was still
contemporary and modern techniques,” according to Lachkky. He performed with
Akram Khan’s London-based company for several years; he missed out on an
earlier chance to perform in New York when an injury prevented him from dancing
in Khan’s Ma at The Joyce Theater, though he did perform it in dozens of
other countries.

The impetus behind Opening
Night, which premiered in 2006 and draws on the five men’s
collective experiences, years of friendship and shared sense of humor, was
simple: “We wanted to dance together, so it was very simple and easygoing,”
said Lachky, who uses the phrase “energetic joy” in describing its tone. “There
were no expectations at the time; nobody knew us, nothing was concrete, there
was no pressure from any side. So the piece was happening super-smoothly.
Everybody contributed equally.” Although their process drew substantially on
improvisation, they made some rules, such as that none of them leave the stage
at any moment. “We talked a lot about the gestures, how every little gesture
between us means a lot.”

Their early experience with their nation’s traditional folk
dances remains a significant element in what they do, even as it’s filtered
through their more contemporary sensibilities. “The folk dancing is our
background. No matter how we dance, it will appear. It’s not necessary that we
push it through,” Lachky said. “It’s a technique or background we have that
shows up in the dancing that we do today.”

Simon Thierrée, the musician/composer who wrote (and
performs) the score for Opening Night and Journey Home, is
virtually a sixth member of the collective, given his crucial involvement in
the works. He plays violin and also generates additional recorded sounds he
created. “Simon was in all the way through during the process, so it was equal
work,” Lachky said. “As we were creating the movement, he was creating the
music.”

Les SlovaKs

Oct. 19-20, Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 W. 37th St. (betw.
9th & 10th Aves.), 212-868-4444; 8, $20.