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.