With boundless passion and a healthy disregard for societal norms, one would be forgiven for thinking that Prosper Mérimée’s Carmen was a lot younger than her 174 years. Yet, while watching the latest Carmen offering, a collaboration between Moveo Dance Company and Alegria Dance Company in tandem with the Manoel Theatre, I was inevitably struck by how relevant such an old tale could be to contemporary audiences.

Having long been a fan of the Georges Bizet operatic version, I was particularly curious as to what Moveo and Alegria would come up with. And, while I did feel that certain scenes could have been visually explained better for the benefit of those who had little background knowledge of the plot, the dancing was nothing short of exquisite.

Despite the lack of scenic context, which is very much in keeping with the contemporary dance aesthetic, (or possibly in spite of it) Diane Portelli’s rendition of Carmen was a sight to behold as she unrelentingly danced her way to her untimely demise at the hands of the desperate José.

Known for being synonymous with passion, the flamenco aspect of this piece was not only most welcome but extremely fitting for the subject at hand. Carmen’s posse of women, played by Ursula Farrugia, Estelle Bonello Sant, Ingrid Sciberras and Ema Marie Attard, were the perfect balance between encouraging friends, jeering bystanders and grave jailers.

The dances performed gave the piece the necessary context and gravitas to Carmen’s sensuous steps. Indeed, while Carmen and her group of merry maidens brought emotional weight to the intricate piece, this area of opaque sensuality was the perfect foil to Micaela’s lightness and purity of being.

Proved that real art is able to supersede both time, place and genre

Absent as she was from Mérimée’s novella and introduced to Bizet’s piece to create greater contrast with the willful, fiery Carmen, the righteous and proper Micaela was a sight to behold. I was glad to see that the directors chose to keep this particular duality in their production.

Played to perfection by Elena Zammit, this Micaela was everything she should have been as she attempted to lure José away from Carmen with her purity of mind and intention.

The flamenco aspect was extremely fitting for the subject.

Despite the fact that the only word uttered throughout the piece were shouts of encouragement or mockery by Carmen’s women, there was little need for words with the sometimes flowing and other times abrupt and haughty movements that Carmen made while her heart fluttered from one suitor to the other.

The music, produced especially for the production by Wayne Grima, was an adaptation of Bizet’s compositions and fit the piece perfectly without detracting attention from any of the intense dancing on stage.

The costumes, designed by Ritienne Zammit, gave the piece a contemporary freshness while retaining the distinct essence of each character. Particularly clever and symbolic was the way the jailing of José was engineered, with Carmen’s posse moving around him bearing four sticks set in a square, significant in its showing a man who was not only physically unable to move, but also a man caged by society’s expectations. In this sense, both him and Carmen are very much victims of their society’s expectations of them.

Moveo and Alegria’s Carmen proved that real art is able to supersede both time, place and genre. Not only did they do this well-worn and well-loved piece much justice, but they were also able to present a fresh look at a tale of what it means to defy the world one lives in, in order to be free. Through their fresh outlook, they succeeded in reminding us all of the battles still left in our very contemporary fights for auto­nomy and freedom.