With the trilogy Figures in Extinction, Nederlands Dans Theater & Complicité celebrated its premiere in Germany on 4 July 2025 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. This gripping piece about climate change, empathy, and death ran until 6 July.
A nearly naked dancer with two giant horns in place of arms. Slow, graceful, but powerful movements in the full spotlight, I observe the individual muscles as they dance across the center of the stage along with the entire body with horns. Pyrenean Ibex.
A swarm, with rapid movements and gentle fluttering. The movement pattern migrates from one person to the next, each infecting the other. Individual groups fall away, leaving the unison of the choreography. The 22 dancers deftly move between and among one another. Complex, interwoven forms begin to take shape. Perfectly mirrored movements, which spread out like a wave. Bachman’s Warbler, Helheim Glacier, spider orchid, smooth handfish, passenger pigeon, Aral Sea.
The climate change denier, a wonderfully danced and laughable figure. But is it humor or ignorance that drives his success?
Then a herd seizes the entire stage. They pause, look at us, the audience. Demanding.
The human-nature dichotomy is not only skillfully performed in this part of the piece. The arbitrariness of the boundary between the two is demonstrated through the precise, animalistic movements of the dancers who embody extinct animals. Events intensify up until the end of 1.0 the list, individual and collective actions come thick and fast, the listing of items gets quicker and quicker. Is there any way to stop it?
People in suits, seated rigid and upright on chairs. 2.0 but then you come to the humans starts with the question “Why is nothing happening?”. Confronted with a flood of information constantly available on smartphones, they swipe through their social media channels. Synchronized jerky movements and canons, which frequently build up to a suspension, accompany the rhythm and narrative voice. In the words of scientist Iain McGilchrist, the voice relays the different functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Rooted in neurological wisdom, there is a plea for empathy and bolstered togetherness.
Figures in Extinction [2.0] ©Rahi Rezvani
The less sequential choreography of this part seems collagenous, with complex structures that are reminiscent of a web of synapses. Within this web are still images where events suddenly come to a halt. Individual performers continue to move, looking for connections to others, for opportunities to break free. A touching duo, helping and supporting each other with turns, lifts, suspension, everything in perfect form that illustrates empathy’s indispensability.
In the last part, 3.0 requiem, we hear texts about death, attachment, and finally decay from John Berger, an artist influenced by Marxism. The dancers who are now in everyday clothing appear more approachable. They share the names of their relatives, their ancestors.
Next, a hospital bed. Family members. Doctors determining the time of death. The scene is emotional, then neutral, then absurd as it morphs into a musical-esque standard with jazz hands and turns in scrubs. We listen to an explanation of the five stages of decay. I smile at the many, somewhat awkward approaches to handling death. It seems to me like a fitting reflection of Western culture.
Back to everyday life, there are chaotic interactions, phone calls, a protest. “Dehumanisation of society by capitalism”. This part ends with a quiet invitation not to think of the dead as eliminated but rather as a part of a larger whole. The individual, even dead, can not be separated from the swarm.
I ask myself what the people in the audience will take away from this skillfully staged and impressively danced reinterpretation. The urgency of the topic should be clear to everyone. Who here will take action (or already has) after this performance – and by what means? Or will the desire for action subside after the enthusiasm of the endless applause…
English translation by Melissa Maldonado
The Nederlands Dans Theater & Complicité celebrated the German premiere of Figures in Extinction, a project by Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney, at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 4 July 2025.
