All newcomers´ eyes are wandering around, everyone in the auditorium impatiently shuffling their feet in socks borrowed just a few moments ago. It’s not very usual to arrive in the theatre and to be asked to put away the shoes and borrow socks, so everyone is thinking what’s going on here. When the ushers ask them to put also their handbags away, their disbelief grows. After being seated on seats nontraditionally arranged in the middle with only few meters for a stage, faces of all are tensed and impatient. The expectations are high; it is the artists´ turn to convince the audience that these precautions were worth all this.
During the first long minutes after the beginning, the audience closely watches a minimalist girls´ duet filled with intimacy – within reach of their breath, like improper voyeurs. The energy bubbling under the skin of sweating bodies gradually gains more and more space until it finally devours the first row which becomes a live barrier of a hot boxing ring. The audience is pulled into the game with no time to protest, they bravely return sharp eye-contact, a bit bewildered they accept the physical contact. After this opening number they loose the last solid points – their chairs. Everybody is on the same boat in the middle of the stage, together with four dancers (Philipp Fricke, Birgit Gunzl, Angie Muller, Nina Wolny), in total darkness. Duets, solos and trios quickly alternate in moving spotlight, appearing in different corners of the stage, once in the middle, once right next to you. Dancers weave their way through the audience, they bump into each other, use the walls, the floor and even the spectators. They enjoy the closeness of each other, sucking in the human warmth. Their movements are fragile and intimate. The audience gradually agree to the play, they dare to go closer to dancing bodies, searching for contact, getting in dancers´ way. They let themselves be led by hand into the spotlight to join the dancing group which grows into a big finale and final darkness filled with humming of all participants. But this darkness is a bit different than the one in the beginning. Alertness was replaced by trust and proximity, uncertainty got the flavour of curiosity.
Anouk van Dijk reminded the audience of the most powerful weapon of dance: physicality. Physical proximity that enacts our senses helps us perceive dance as a medium, our bodies as communication canals. The fear of loosing privacy which provokes panic in us in overcrowded streets is transformed into more sensitive reception and respect of the personal space of each of us. Strangers leave the theatre´s auditorium smiling towards other co-spectators and with the words „see you soon“. How come? Translation: Kristina Durczaková
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species